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A 

CRITICAL EXAMINATION 

OF THE 

EVIDENCES ADDUCED 



ESTABLISH THE THEORY 



NORSE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 



J. P. MacLEAN, 

Life Member of the Gaelic Society of Glasgow; Honorary Member of the Gaelic Society 
of Inverness : Corresponding Member of the Davenport Academy of Sciences : Cor- 
responding Member of the Western Reserve Historical Society of Ohio ; 
Author of a " History of Clan MacLean : " " The Mound Builders ;'" 
"Antiquity of Man:" "Mastodon, Mammoth and Man;'' 
" Fingal's Cave ; " "Jewish Nature Worship." 



^ CHICAGO, ILL.: 

AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN OFFICE. 
1892. 



Va^. Vjo .Vva-- . 



34545 



The impression ot this work is limited to 500 copies, of which this copy is 




PREFACE, 



THE ensuing chapters were written for and appeared in the 
American Antiqtinria/i. As will be observed, the design 
was to confine the line of argument to the statements of such 
books as had been recently published, that advocated the 
Norse discovery of America. It was deemed unnecessary to 
call particular attention to older works, because those more 
recent revamped former arguments and assertions contained 
in the previous publications, and had virtually supplanted them 
in the market. The value of the statements in previous publi- 
cations should not be discredited or obliterated. If presented 
side by side with the line of thought adopted by those now 
occupying the field, a strange anomaly would appear. The 
inconsistencies of recent claimants would be forcibly illustrated. 

To array the evidences of the one against the assumptions 
of the other — all advocating substantially the same theory — 
has not been attempted, because the subject has been treated 
with a due regard for the facts bearing on the case. If the 
design had been to place the advocates in an unenviable posi- 
tion, then the dissertation and notes to Samuel Laing's trans- 
lation of Sturlasson's " Heimskringla" could, with propriety, be 
introduced. Although an avowed advocate of the Norse 
theory, Laing unsparingly points out certain inconsistencies in 
the Saga narratives. Such statements as grapes ripening in 
the springtime, and causing one to be drunken upon eating 
them; the growing of wheat and corn unplanted; the great 
number of eggs of the eider duck, etc., he boldly ascribes to 
"the fiction of some Saga maker". He has but little patience 
with those who would find evidences of Norse occupation in 
America, and declares they are poets and not antiquarians. 



The so-called American evidences he regards as a hoax, and 
speaking of the Newport stone mill, says: "Those sly rogues 
of Americans dearly love a quiet hoax. With all gravity they 
address a solemn communication to the Royal Society of 
Northern Antiquarians at Copenhagen, respecting these inter- 
esting remains of 'a structure bearing an antique appearance,' 
— 'a building possibly of the ante-Columbian times,' — 'a relic, 
it may be, of the Northmen, the first discoverers of Vinland!' 
* * * * It must be allowed that these Rhode Island wags 
have played off their joke with admirable dexterity." Relying 
on the Sagas alone, Laing would confine the discoveries to the 
coast of Labrador, "or some places north of the Gulf of St, 
Lawrence". 

The eight chapters relating to the Norse discovery of 
America, which Peringskiold inserted in his Swedish and Latin 
translation of the " Heimskringla", Laing reproduces in an 
appendix to the third volume. In one of the notes added to 
these extra chapters, he animadverts to the statement that 
Karlsefne had taken "cattle of all kind" to Vinland, and 
demonstrates that such could not be true; and further remarks: 
"It looks as if the Saga-relator was applying his ideas formed 
on Iceland, where cattle and food for them are not scarce, to 
a country by nature so totally different as Greenland, and that 
he did not know of the difference." This goes to confirm the 
position taken in the following pages. 

September, 1892. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. PAGE. 
A General Review i 

CHAPTER H. 
The Sagas 9 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Sagas and America 17 

CHAPTER IV. 
Norse Remains in America 33 

CHAPTER V. 
Odds and Ends 48 



PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



A GENERAL REVIEW. 

It is generally conceded that the greatest achievement re- 
corded in the annals of history was the discovery of America 
by Columbus. It has been fraught with incalculable benefits to 
the human race. To the genius of Columbus must be ascribed 
all the honor and glory. 

It is unnecessary in this place to narrate the great difficulties 
which Columbus was forced to surmount in order to accomplish 
his purpose. These have been so often set forth that all students 
of American history have become familiar with them. The 
world has deservedly accorded unbounded praise to the Genoese 
mariner, having called him the greatest of discoverers, and 
inscribed his name among the most illustrious of men. 

Men being more or less inclined to theorize, and to a certain 
extent governed by race prejudice and religious rancor, it 
would not be surprising that there should be those who would 
attempt to pluck the laurel from the great explorer's brow. It 
is a shame that calumny and strong epithets should be resorted 
to in the discussion of a purely historical question. Upon the 
face of it there is a countenance of weakness in the cause of 
those who resort to such methods. Mere theories will arise 
and their associates will demand attention, however much facts 
may be distorted in order to substantiate their views. The 
weaker the cause the louder the contention. 

There is quite an extensive literature relating to the so-called 
pre-Columbian discovery of America, and claims have been 
put forth in behalf of various persons more or less mythical. It 
would be a work of supererogation to enter into a discussion of 
all the views that have been proclaimed and the reasons there- 
for. When sifted none of them will bear a critical analysis, 
although documentary evidence is assumed to support ten or 
more of these hypotheses. 

The one that takes rank in priority is that ot Hoci-Shin, a 
Buddhist monk, who, in the year 499 A. D., returned from an 
extensive journey to the east and reported that he had visited a 
country lying about 6,600 miles to the east of Japan, and an 



2 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

equal distance to the east of China. He called the country 
Tusango on account of many trees growing there that went by 
that name. It has been assumed that this coutry was Mexico 
and California. The Irish discovery appears to have been two 
fold. First, St. Patrick sent missionaries to the "Isles of 
America", which would place the date prior to 460 A. D., thus 
ante-dating the purported Chinese discover)- ; and, second, at a 
time little previous to the Norse discovery or toward the close 
of the tenth century. Next in chronological order is the advent 
of the Norsemen in America, about 1000 A. D. 

Some time previous to 1147 there set sail from Lisbon eigl t 
Arabian brothers called Maghrourins, who swore they would 
not return till they had penetrated to the farthest bounds of the 
Dark Sea. They came to an island inhabited by a people of 
lofty stature and a red skin. 

Another story affirms that about the year 1169, Madoc, a son 
of Owen Gwywedd, prince of North Wales, lelt his country on 
account of disturbances, and determined to search out some 
unknown land and dwell there. With a few ships he embarked 
with his followers ana for many months they sailed westward until 
they came to a large and fertile country, when they disembarked 
and permanently settled. After a time Madoc returned to 
Wales, where he fitted out ten ships and pr'^vailed on a large 
number of his countrymen to return with him. Both Mexico 
and the Californias have been assigned as the place of this 
Welsh settlement. 

The marvelous tales of the Venetian brothers, Nicolo and 
Antonio Zeno, date back to the year 1380. They established a 
monastery and church in Greenland. After the death of Nicolo 
the other remained for fourteen years in the service of the 
chieftan. Earl Tichmni. Antonio heard of a land, a thousand 
miles distant, populous and ivilized, ruled by a king, and having 
Latin books in the library. Farther to the southwest was a 
more civilized region and temperate climate. Antonio set out 
in search of this land, but the voyage proved unsuccessful. 

An obscure writer of the date of 17 17 put forth the claim 
that, about the year 1464, John Vaz Casta Cortereal, a gentleman 
of the royal household of Portugal, explored the northern seas 
by order of Alphonso V, and discovered Terra de Baccalhaos 
or land of codfish, afterwards called New Foundland. The dis- 
covery by the Poles is placed in the year 1476; that by Martin 
Behaim in 1483 ; and that by Cousin of Dieppe in 1488. 

These alleged discoveries have not been without their advo- 
cates. Any other purported discovery will gather to itself 
zealous defenders, however short may be the thread upon which 
the evidence depends. If it once gains a foothold, the most 
cogent of reasons and the most forcible of facts will fail to 
dislodge it. Even intelligent minds will be drawn into the 
maelstrom of error. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 3 

Closely related to the purported pre-Columbian discoveries 
are certain accounts of early travelers, who found the native 
Indian languaj^e to be Welsh and Highland Scotch. The 
evidence of this rests upon a more plausible basis than the 
former ; and yet it would be difficult to find an anthropologist 
who accepted the story of Morgan Jones or the pleasant tale ot 
Lord Monboddo. As no one has recently championed the 
latter, it will be only necessary now to turn the attention to the 
former. 

Of all the theories propounded, the advocates of the Norse 
discovery have been the most pertinacious. They have been 
instant in season and out of season. Among those who have 
shoved themselves to the front, Mrs. M. A. Shipley, Professor 
R. B. Anderson and B. F, DeCosta may be considered to be 
the most conspicuous. Of these, the first is the most reckless 
in regard to statements, and the last named is the fairest and 
most judicious ; whilst all of them are easily detected in trying 
to make out a case. Even questions not directly concerned in 
the presentation of the case have been dragged into the contro- 
versy. Christianity and the Christian Church have come in 
for a tirade of abuse. 

"The Christian nature is undoubtedly the same all over the 
world : hypocritical, canting, secretive, avaricious, deeply 
designing and Machiavellian ; each leader makes a tool and a 
dupe of his followers ; congregations do their priests' or their 
ministers' bidding, and the whole society is permeated with 
their spirit and purpose."^ "The North failed and sank into a 
decline through accepting Christianity."" "The Church has 
destroyed self-respect."^ "To tear down Christianit}'^, under 
present conditions, is in no wise iconoclasm ; neither will it 
leave a moral vacuum ; the necessity is not even upon us of 
building up something else in its stead, for a structure has stood 
for ages, testified to by reliable history, which the Church and 
Christianity have obscured and hidden from the gaze."* 

Not satisfied with this unprovoked invective against Chris- 
tianity, we are also treated to an assault on Columbus, who is 
accused of being a thief, " ambitious and unscrupulous," " bigoted 
Roman," "Italian adventurer," " needy adventurer," etc. These 
epithets, which appear to be so savory to the author of 
Icelandic Discoveries^ appear to have been inspired by Professor 
Anderson, who, quoting with approval from Goodrich, declares 
Columbus to have been " a fraud, mean, selfish, perfidious and 
cruel."^ 

Without a blush or qualification it is declared that Columbus 
" stole his information " concerning the Western Continent from 
the Norsemen ;® that he made a "secret " visit to Iceland ;^ that 

1 Shipley's Icelandic Discoveries, p. 171. 2 Ibid. p. 183. 3 Ibid. 188. 4 Ibid. 192 

5 America Not Discovered by Columbus, p. 7. 

6 Icelandic Discoveries, p. 9. 7 Ibid. p. 11. 



4 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

his discovery was" bogus ";^ that the Norse "were the first 
Europeans who landed on American shores was pregnant with 
good to us ; this made 'the name America the synonym of 
wealth, of adventure, of freedom', and not the false tidings borne 
by Columbus to Spain of a discovery of which he would have 
been incapable but for stolen information;"^ "Columbus, the 
bigoted Roman Catholic adventurer, who fed his ambition and 
greed on the narratives of the Norse voyages to America, read 
secretly in Iceland, strove to give the New World the opposite 
tendency, — the downward tendency";* Columbus, hearing of 
the Western World, " went to Iceland in order to pursue the 
investigations to which all this had given him a clue. After his 
visit to Iceland, he made out to find America, as any one else 
could have found it after obtaining definite directions ;"* he was 
guilty of "religious felony", and purloined the knowledge of a 
discovery of transcendent value made by men of a pagan race 
who were recently and very reluctantly converted to Christian- 
ity, for the purpose ot securing princely honors and emoluments 
for himself, the greatest conceivable aggrandizement for the 
Church. Such an opportunity for universal dominion as could 
never, in the nature of things, occur again in the life of the 
world ; and last and most important of all, for the purpose of 
making the New World, through its entire submission to the 
Holy See, the means of crushing out all tendencies to rebellion 
against the church that might possibly manifest themselves 
again in Europe."* 

These severe and uncharitable views would prepare the 
reader for an estimate of the character of the Norse as given by 
the same pen, for it may be anticipated that one extreme follows 
another. If the character be exalted, then the literature created 
by that people must also be transcendent. " There was no 
stint of historical records in Iceland ; its literature was as rich 
and varied as it was copious. The Latin lore (?) of the monks 
could in no sense be compared with it ;"^ " free to think and to 
act, to follow their impulses, the dearest aim of the Norsemen 
was to cultivate character, to attain that degree of excellence 
which would make their life a joy to them ; their heaven was 
only valuable to them as following upon a valuable life here on 
earth, and they were never disposed to resign this life for the 
sake of a future one ; if they sought death, or met it bravely, it 
was for other reasons, not savoring of sickly renunciation. This 
aim of theirs to be great developed a heroic age ; the warriors 
and the bards emulated each other ;"^ the literature of Iceland 
was vast and "preserved in the retentive memories of its Scalds 
and saga men, the annals of what was in many respects an ideal 
civilization, describing the life of a race mentallv and physically 
sound, whose thoughts, words and acts were strong and 

1 Icelandic Discoveries, p. 13. 2 Ibid. p. 22. 3 Ibid p. 34. 4 Ibid. 69. 5 Ibid. 105 
6 ibid. 43. 7 Ibid. p. 123. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 5 

vigorous." " To the supreme good fortune of future generations 
this was Dreserved where the Christian desecrators could not 
enter, it was safely guarded behind spiritual bolts and bars, in 
the faithlul and reverent minds of the people, and long after, 
not much before the seventeenth century, when the nations of 
Europe, after the first decisive revolt, represented in the 
Reformation, had begun to recover from the asphyxia into 
which the unnatural and preposterous doctrines the Christian 
religion had thrown them, Icelandic history was made known 
to them, the revelation of a system of ethics, of a moral code, of 
political and social regulations and customs so unlike those 
which Christian Europe had adopted and lived after that it 
could not at first produce anything but astonishment and very 
partial understanding ;^ "the value of this literature, this history 
of the North, which from all accounts seems to be the only 
reliable histor}' we have, is that it describes, with that graphic 
force, yielded by truth alone, a state of society founded on 
natural principles ;"* " the actual life in Iceland, the intellectual 
stature of its people, reveal to us undreamed-of possibilities. In 
casting off the incubus of the Church we do not enter unguard- 
edly into vague and problematical conditions, but we resume 
conditions once found all-sufficient for human welfare, we will 
again lead the life of rational beings, and defamed reason will 
be our sure guide ;"* "the evils that the American people are 
vainly trying to reform, disabled as they are by the paralyzing 
conviction that all human effort is well-nigh unavailing, are not 
manifestly derived from Norse ethics. These, on the contrary, 
have been the source of infinite good."* 

The quotations thus given are not to be passed over slight- 
ingly, as the ravings of a disordered mind, for they have not 
only been inspired by less irrational writers, but have been 
deemed important enough to be published both in England 
(Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.) and America (John B. 
Alden.) 

B. F. DeCosta writes: "We fable in a great measure when 
we speak of our Saxon inheritance; it is rather from the North- 
men that we have derived our vital energy, our freedom of 
thought, and, in a measure we do not yet suspect, our strength 
of speech."^ Again, the same writer is moved to say: "The 
feature of the Icelandic sagas relating to America is plain. Their 
simple, unaffected statements, all uncolored either by personal 
vanity or national ambition, will more and more win the confi- 
dence of historians, who find in their statements, committed to 
writing, as all the testimony proves, in pre-Columbian times, 
convincing and unanswerable proof of the fact that Leif Ericson 
and other adventurers found America and visited New England 



1 Icelandic Discoveries, p. 165. 2 Ibid. 168. 3 Ibid.183. 4 Ibid. 123. 
5 Ibid., p. 56. 



6 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

during the times and under the circumstances described."^ 
"Those who imagine that these manuscripts, while of pre- 
Columbian origin, have been tampered with and interpolated, 
show that thev have not the faintest conception of the state of 
the question."^ 

Prof Anderson declares "it was the settlement of Iceland by 
the Norsemen, and the constant voyages between this island and 
Norway, that led to the discovery, first of Greenland and then 
of America; and it is due to the high intellectual standing and 
fine historical taste of the Icelanders that records of these voy- 
ages were kept, first to instruct Columbus how to find America 
and afterwards to solve for us the mysteries concerning the dis- 
covery of this continent "^ 

Passing over these statements, for the present, our attention 
is called to the confidence expressed in the universal belief in the 
Norse discovery. Without limitations or qualifications one 
writer boldly declares : "At the present time, historians agree 
with great unanimity that the continent of America was visited 
during the tenth and eleventh centuries by Icelanders resident 
in Greenland ;"* but elsewhere the same advocate speaks about 
" vindicating the Norsemen . . . who not 

only gave us the first knowledge possessed of the American 
continent, but to whom we are indebted for much beside that 
we esteem valuable."^ 

Another author, whose writings are not less numerous, calls 
loudly and vehemently to have the truths established, because 
"it is necessary for the truth, as to the discovery of America, to 
be established immediately f that the first duty is obivously to 
confirm the fact of the Norse discover}'", the history of which 
has been "so miraculously preserved in Iceland", and further- 
more " the single statement that the discovery of America by 
the Norsemen has never been conceded by the world to be a 
fact."« 

If we proceed upon the assumption that the Norsemen dis- 
covered America, that Vinland was in America, the sagas are 
" reliable history", then it must be conceded there must be an 
agreement among those accepting this reliability, as to the 
location of Vinland or any other specified place. Not necessarily 
the exact spot should be singled out, but the opinions should 
conform to the relative position. But most unfortunately there 
is a wide divergence of opinion among historians. 

Torfasus, who awakened interest in the subject in 1705, was 
content to place the scene in America, without even attempting 
to name the localities. In 1755, Paul Henri Mallet, in his 

1 Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, p. 59. 2 Ibid, p. 40. 

3 America Not Discovered by Columbus, p. 55. 

4 DeCosta, in Ibe Popular Science Monthly, Nov. 1880, p. 35. 

5 Pre-Columbian Discovery of America, Second Edition, p. 7. 

6 Icelandic Discoveries, pp, 14, 194, 195. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 7 

" Histoire de Dannemarc", locates the scene in Labrador and 
Newfoundland. Robertson, in 1778, in his "History of America", 
although with misgivings thinks "that the situation of New- 
foundland corresponds best with that of the country discovered 
by the Norwegians." M. C. Sprengel (1782), in his "Geschichte 
der Entdeck Ungen", thinks they went as far south as Caro- 
lina. In 1793, Munoz, in his " Historia del Nuevo Mundo", 
puts Vinland in Greenland. Barrow, in his "Voyages to the 
Arctic Regions" (1818), places Vinland in Labrador or New- 
foundland. Hugh Murray, in "His Discoveries and Travels in 
North America", (1829), doubts the assigning of Vinland to 
America. Henry Wheaton (1831), in his " History of the 
Northmen", thought Vinland should be looked for in New En- 
gland. Bancroft, the most eminent of American historians, in 
the original third edition (1840), of his history, says "Scandina- 
vians may have reached the shores of Labrador; the soil of the 
United States has not one vestige of their presence." Wilson 
(1862), in his "Prehistoric Man," declares that Markland,"which, 
so far as the name or description can guide us, might be any- 
where on the American coast," and that Nantucket is referred 
to is assumed, because they spoke of the dew upon the grass, 
because it tasted sweet. Foster, in his "Prehistoric Races of 
the United States" (1873), abruptly dismisses the subject, speak- 
ing of it as conjecture and no memorials having been left behind. 
Nadaillac (1882) speaks of the Norse discovery as "legends in 
whicb a little truth is mingled with much fiction." Weise, in 
his "Discoveries of America," (1884), believes the sea-rovers 
did not even pass Davis' Straits. The Massachusetts Historical 
Society (1887), through its committee, reports: "There is the 
same sort of reason for believing in the existence of Leif Ericson 
that there is for believing in the existence of Agamemnon — 
they are both traditions accepted by later writers; but there is 
no more reason for regarding as true the details related about 
his discoveries than there is for accepting as historic truth the 
narratives contained in the Homeric poems. It is antecedently 
probable that the Northmen discovered America in the early 
part of the eleventh century; and this discovery is confirmed 
by the same sort of historical tradition, not strong enough to be 
called evidence, upon which our belief in many of the accepted 
facts of history rests." It is certainly evident that Winsor, in 
his "Narrative and Critical History of America," does not de- 
pend upon the Norse discovery. 

Following the account of the sagas, as given by the astute 
editors, it is discovered that the first land made by the Norse 
was Helluland, or Newfoundland. Farther to the south, they 
came upon a thickly-wooded country, which they termed Mark- 
land, or Nova Scotia. After a voyage to the south of several 
days, Cape Cod was reached. Vinland comprehends Martha's 
Vineyard and surrounding country. In arriving at these loca- 



8 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

tions, in order that they might be corroborated, it is not neces- 
sary to point out the many "supposes" and adroit changes called 
forth by the text, in order to force it to say just what might be 
desired. Neither is it found advisable that the "simple and un- 
affected sagas," the "only reliable history" we have, should be 
allowed to speak for themselves, because a skilled interpreter can 
carefully interpolate and explain, whenever such may be deemed 
necessary, which is quite frequent. Nor has it been thought 
best to give a succinct account of the sagas by the advocates 
of the pre-Columbian theory, and a correct analysis of their 
contents, for undoubtedly such an exposure would not add to 
the lustre which it has been attempted to cast over them. De- 
spoiled of careful editing, the many supposes eliminated, the 
facts and contents made known, the record would present itself 
in an unenviable light. 

It is not the advocating of a theory, the foisting of an idea, 
the building up of a clever hypothesis, that is to be desired. If 
the sagas give a simple, clear, convincing narrative of a voyage 
or voyages to the western world, and if those sagas have been 
written by men desiring to speak only the truth although, there 
might be a slight tendency to romancing, and the descriptions 
of places are accurate enough to be traced cut, and if written 
before the discovery by Columbus, there can be but one result. 
It must then be admitted that the sea-rovers saw the New World. 
If so, what then? 

This being true, there is no need to abuse Columbus and hold 
him up to the scorn of mankind. It will be unnecessary to 
traduce Christianity and hold up the ancient Norse as patterns 
of excellence, and as having enjoyed an ideal civilization. The 
distinguished authors who have expressed doubt and disbelief 
will be hoisted on their own petard. 

It is not a subject for strong adjectives or loud declamation. 
The sagas should receive the same treatment as any other piece 
of writing that has been brought to light after having remained 
covered for ages. The facts they present should be accepted; 
the theories for what they are worth; the romancing r jected; 
the marvellous sifted, and the whole analysed. 

It must not be assumed that it is here purposed to make an 
investigation into every line pointed out in these literary remains, 
for now we are interested only in their purported relation to 
the discovery of America. Nor is it to lae presumed that a 
happy conclusion will be reached, for the confusion, as exhibited 
by the past, must be expected to be continued in the future. 
That same tendency to theorize, already referred to, and desire 
to be at variance with rugged facts, will still be the great com- 
panion of some — erratic, tempestuous, baneful. 



THE SAGAS. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE SAGAS. 

It appears that Iceland had long been inhabited by a small 
colony o( Irish monks, representing the Culdee form of the 
Christian religion. About 874 A. D. a stream of emigration set 
in, composed of Scandinavians, which continued for a period of 
sixty years, during which time some four thousand homesteads 
were established around the habitable fringe along the great 
bays and firths. The first authentic successful settlement was 
made under Ingolf, a Norwegian, who, after a fruitless attempt 
on the south coast in 870, established himself at Reikiavik m 
874. This tide of emigration was caused by the changes intro- 
duced in Norway by Harald Haarfager, for such people as 
could not endure them left for other countries, particularly to 
the habitable coast districts of Iceland. In the immigrations 
into Iceland three distinct streams are traced. The first was 
that of four noblemen from Norway— Ingolf, Ketil Heeng, 
Skalla-Grim, and Thorolf, who, with their dependents, settled 
m the southwest from 870 to 890. The second was that of 
Aud, widow of Olaf the White, king of Dublin, who came 
from the Western Islands of Scotland, followed by a number of 
her kinsmen, many, like herself, being Christians, and settled 
the best land in the west, northwest and north, and there founded 
families that long swayed its destinies, which occurred between 
890 and 900. The third was a few more newcomers direct 
from Norway, which took place between 900 and 930. These 
completed the settlement of the south, northeast and southeast. 
In 1 100 the population numbered about 50,000 souls, quite a 
proportion of which was of Irish blood. The government at 
first, in the times of paganism, was hierarchic and aristocratic. 
Christianity was not formally introduced until the year 1002, or 
about one hundred and twenty-eight years after the first settle- 
ment and not even then without much opposition. Schools 
were then founded, and two bishoprics in Holar and Skalholt. 
Old Icelandic possesses only forty runic monuments, all of them 
practically worthless from a philological point of view, the oldest 
of which is an inscription on a church door, dating no farther 
back than the thirteenth century, and therefore later than some 



10 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

of the manuscripts. Hence one author was moved to declare, 
"There are no runic inscriptions in Iceland."* 

The most flourishinjr period of their literature and commerce 
was from the middle of the tw^elfth to the close of the thirteenth 
century, when, on account of domestic broils, Haco V. of Nor- 
way, in 1262, succeeded in reducing the whole island under his 
sway. From this time a declension began, which was not 
arrested until the outbreak of the Reformation, when the influ- 
ence of the latter was felt in Iceland as early as 1540, but not 
established until 1551. Unfortunately its necessary complement 
— a social and political revolution — never came 10 Iceland. 

Notwithstanding its boasted literature, Iceland has never pro- 
duced a poet of the highest order. This has been accounted 
tor on the assumption that their energy was lavished upon the 
saga, a prose epic. Their poems lack the qualities of high 
imagination, deep pathos, fresh love of nature, passionate 
dramatic power and noble simplicity of language, so character- 
istic of the Western Isles of Scotland. 

The saga represents the real strength and power of Icelandic 
literature, some thirty-five or forty of which still remain, none 
of them dating earlier than the twelfth century. 

The father of Icelandic history was Ari Frode, and nearly all 
that is now known of the heathen commonwealth may be traced 
to him. He secured and put in order the fragmentary tradi- 
tions that had begun to die out. He fixed the style in which 
Icelandic history should be composed. Some of his writings 
have entirely disappeared, and those that remain are only pre- 
served in the writings of later compilers. Ari was born in 1066 
and died in the year 1148. The most eminent of Icelandic his- 
torians, and the most prominent man that country ever produced, 
was SnorriSturlasson, born in 1178. Having married Herdis, a 
daughter of a rich priest living at Borg, he thereby laid the 
foundation of a large fortune. His methods of acquiring wealth 
are more than hinted at as not being legal. The promises he 
had made in Norway he did not trouble himself about fulfilling. 
He quarreled with his brother, his son, his nephew, his son-in- 
law, and his wife, and was continually in a broil. He wanted to 
marry Solveig, and promised to increase htr wealth. He mar 
ried, in 1224, Halveig, a widow, although his wife was still 
living. By the Thing he was appointed an expounder of the 
laws of Iceland, but disregarded the same laws when they 
affected himself. His quarrels and feuds affected the greater part 
of Iceland, and in 1232 broke out into civil war. This continued 
until about 1259, when his sons-in-law sent back his daughters, 
the cause of their quarrel being that their marriage portions 
were not paid. He was driven out of the country by his brother 
Sigh vat, but returned in 1239. He quarreled with the sons of 

♦Vicary's "Saga Times," p. 163. 



THE SAGAS. 11 

his wife Halveig about their mother's properly. On the night 
of September 22d, 1241, he was assassinated by Gissur Thor- 
valdsson, accompanied by seventy men, all of whom had sworn 
to kill Snorri Sturlasson, his own friends and kinsmen being the 
murderers. In this atmosphere of strife he found time to write 
his history and traditions. The prominent features of his char- 
acter were cunning, ambition and avarice, combined with want 
of courage and aversion to effort. 

The first sagas were written down on separate scrolls in the 
generation succeeding that of Ari, or from about 1140 to 1220. 
Then they passed through different phases, edited and com- 
pounded from 1220 to 1260. After this they were padded and 
amplified (from 1260 to 1300), and durmg the fourteenth cen- 
tury were collected in large manuscripts. The sagas grew up 
in the milder days that immediately succeeded the change of 
faith, when the deeds of the principal families were still cher- 
ished, and their exploits narrated by the firesides during the 
long winters. At all feasts and gatherings there were those 
particularly adapted to the reciting of the occurrences of the 
past, and who wove their recitations into such a form as would 
most readily appeal to the imagination. Each reciter impro- 
vised his own comments and injected such statements as best 
suited his imagination. The artistic features of the story were 
carefully elaborated and the appropriate finishing touches sup- 
plied. The Irish characteristics greatly predominated in the 
sagas of the west. The best compositions belong to the west, 
and the name of nearly every classic writer belongs there — or 
in the place where there is the greatest admixture of Irish blood. 
But in all the Icelandic sagas there is the same keen grasp of 
character, the love of action, and that intense delight in blood, 
which almost assumes the garb of religious passion. The ro- 
mancing spirit of the south had entered distant Iceland, and the 
fireside stories became impregnated more or less by its influ- 
ence. Horn has very justly observed that "some of the sagas 
were doubtless originally based on facts, but the telling and re- 
telling have changed them into pure myths."* 

Inspeakingof "dreams of the Sagas," Vicary remarks: "The 
sagas are often so full of periphrase, and the figurative meaning 
so dark, and taken at so great a distance from its original sense 
that more thought must have been suggested to the mind than 
the skald had conceived. This, no doubt, led the imaginations 
of people in the saga time to dwell on the nature and import- 
ance of dreams, with the result that we have the stories, it not 
the histories, of the dreams of persons who lived eight or ten 
centuries since. Their strong points are that they are graphic 
and with decided color. . . . The real criticism is 
that the period of the sagas is short relatively, and, however 

♦VVlnsor's "Narrative and Critical History," Vol. I, p. 88. 



12 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

wonderful for the time, their narration is more poetical than 
accurate; while, in comparison, the experience of common sense 
is long."^ 

The sagas delight more or less in the improbable. The 
Ynglinga saga contains a description of King Jorund's custom 
of harrying the coasts of his neighbors. His son On pursued 
the same occupation. At the age of sixty the latter sacrificed 
his eldest son to Odin, who therefore extended his lease of life 
for another sixty years. He therefore sacrificed other sons, and 
for each son was granted ten more years of life, until he reached 
two hundred years, and would have offered up his remaining 
son had not his subjects interfered. 

Accounts are also given of the Bcvrscsrk (supposed to mean 
"bare-shirt," and called in Icelandic Ulfrhcdin^ or wolf-skin); a 
class of men who fought without armor, and wearing only a 
shirt of skins, or at times naked. They were of unusual physi- 
cal development and savagery, and were liable to a state of ex- 
citement in which they displayed superhuman strength, and 
thev spared neither friend nor foe. They could swallow fire, 
go through it naked and fling their bodies on the edges of weap- 
ons without injury. They \yould perform prodigies of valor, 
would roar and howl like savage beasts, were the pests of 
society, but were occasionally useiul for deeds of blood. In the 
Kristnisaga, that narrates the introduction of Christianity into 
Iceland, it is stated that there were two Beerscerks, who were 
brothers, and who were unusually savage; would howl like 
wolves, run with bare feet through the fire, and pretended that 
swords could not cut them. Bishop Fredrik, who had come to 
Iceland from North Germany, was a very holy and sensible 
man. He blessed the fire and the sword, with the result that 
the B^rsasrks were burnt like other people; and when they fell 
upon the points of the swords, to their surprise, they were killed 
like other people under similar circumstances. It is also related 
that King Olav sent Tangbrand from Norway to Iceland to 
extend Christianity in the latter country. He was challenged 
to a duel by a fierce Btersgerk, who made the usual boast that 
he could pass harmless through fire and no sword could pierce 
his skin. Tangbrand suggested that he make his word good. 
The Basrs^rk fell on his sword, and to the astonishment of all 
it penetrated him and he died in consequence. This was owing 
to the fact that Tangbrand had made a cross on the sword, which 
interfered with the protection afforded by the devil. 

It was taught that after an attack of frenzy the superhuman 
spirit left the Bsersasrk's body, with the result that great ex- 
haustion followed. In the Eyrbyggjasaga, an Icelander named 
Vernund obtained two B^ers^rks of Swedish extraction, one 
called Halle and the other Leikner. They were larger and 

*Saga Times, p. 16. 



THE SAGAS. 13 

stronger than other men, and when not under the influence were 
tolerably tractable ; but otherwise were dangerous, sparing 
neither friend nor foe, man, woman nor child; would howl like 
beasts, bite their shields, fall upon sharp weapons and eat fire. 
Before leaving for Iceland, they compelled Vernund to bind 
himself to supply them with everything they asked for, in re- 
turn for their services. They came to Iceland the same year 
that Erik the Red sailed for Greenland. Soon after their arrival 
Halle demanded of Vernund to procure him a wife of good 
Icelandic family. Knowing that no respectable woman would 
desire such a husband, Vernund temporized with him, which 
Halle's impatient nature brooked only tor a short time, and 
then gave Vernund sufficient cause to regret that he had brought 
them to Iceland. Knowing his brother Styr had a blood feud 
in which he wanted to take action he contrived to hand over to 
him the two Baersserks, who proved of great service to him. 
Halle made love to Styr's daughter Asdis, who was a proud, 
strong and manlike woman. She entertained no thought of 
marrying a person of Halle's type. Styr strongly disapproved 
of the suit. Halle threatened to carry her off by force, when, 
m order to temporize with him, Styr promised he should marry 
her provided he and Leikner should make a road through the 
lava to Bjornshavn, and build a fence between the lava and his 
lands, and also make an enclosure inside the lava. This work 
was at once performed by the exercise of unusual strength. 
When it was finished Asdis put on her best dress and met the 
Basrsaerks on their return home, saying nothing to them, but 
simply walked by their side. They were in a state of great 
exhaustion as a consequence of the Beersasrkegang, or excite- 
ment, having just left them. Styr advised them to have a hot 
bath, which he heated to such a pitch that the Beerseerks burst 
the door open, when he speared them as they came out. 

Sorcery and witchcraft are eIso important features in some of 
the narratives. 

In treating of the sagas the extent of those forged must also 
be considered, and how far those remaining have been tampered 
with. Some of the Icelandic sagas are known to have been 
forged. They appear as early as the thirteenth century. All 
are quite poor, and appear to be wholly apocryphal or else 
worked up on hints given in genuine stories. Some of these 
apocryphal writings have been composed within the present 
century. 

That some of the sagas have been worked over by later 
writers, and others interpolated, there is no room for doubt. As 
an instance of the former the Nialsaga may serve as an illustra- 
tion. In style, contents, legal and historical weight, it is the 
foremost of all sagas. It deals especially with law, and contains 
the pith and the moral of all early Icelandic history. Its hero 
is Nial, a type of the good lawyer, placed in contrast with 



14 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

Mord, a villain, the example of cunninjT, trickery and wrong- 
doing. A great part of the saga is taken up with the three 
cases and suits of the divorce, the death of Hoskuld. and the 
burning of Nial, given with great minuteness and care. The 
whole story is an ideal saga-plot, and appears to have been 
written by a lawyer, and according to internal evidence it was 
composed about 1250. It has been worked over by a later 
editor about 1300, who has inserted many spurious verses. 

Perhaps no one could be found hardy enough to dispute the 
fact that Peringskiold, in his edition of the Heimskringla, edited 
in 1697, interpolated eight chapters relating to the so-called 
Vinland voyages, which were afterwards discovered to have 
been taken from Codex Flatoyensis. It was this that Robert- 
son, in his " History of America," relied upon as evidence of 
the Norse discovery of America, although he naively remarked, 
it "is a very rude, confused tale."'* In America this has served 
more to spread the tale of this purported discovery than any 
other one source. It thereby gained a foothold in American 
history, and later compilers, for the most part, have received 
and adopted it without inquiry into the facts; just the same as 
other purported evidences have been added without critical in- 
quiry. 

• DeCosta, although affirming that "those who imagine that 
these manuscripts have been tampered with and interpolated 
show that they have not the faintest conception of the state of 
the question,"! is forced to admit that Smith, in his "Dialogues,":}: 
has suppressed the term "six," and substituted "by a number of 
days' sail unknown," in the "Landnama-bok" where it speaks 
of Ireland the Great lying opposite of Vinland, six days' sail 
west of Ireland. 

Such manuscripts as have been preserved might tell a won- 
drous tale of changes and perversions should they fall under the 
eye of an expert, accustomed to detect, with such glosses as 
many an old writing has been subjected to. Until such detec- 
tions have been made it is but just to receive them as they are, 
with such light as circumstances have surrounded them. 

The sagas need not be solely depended upon to prove that 
the Norsemen were a hardy band of sea-rovers — or pirates, as 
they would have been designated had they lived in more modern 
times. Their roving propensities led them to the discovery of 
Iceland — as above intimated — in the year 850, and Greenland 
was first seen in 876, by Gunnbiorn, who had been driven out 
to sea by a storm, but a landing was not effected until about 
986, when Erik the Red settled there. This Erik was born in 
Norway, but was banished from that country on account of the 
crime of murder. He retired to Iceland, where he was again 

*Page 241. 

tPre-Columblan Discovery, p. 40. tlbid., p. 161 






THE SAGAS. 15 

outlawed on account ot manslaughter. Having heard of the 
land to the west, he, with some of his followers, embarked for 
that region. 

It required courage to sail in those days from Norway to Ice- 
land, without a compass and in frail boats. Although Iceland 
is but six hundred miles distant from Norway and five hundred 
miles from the north of Scotland, yet often the voyage required 
months; nevertheless it was frequently undertaken with no 
other motive than that of restlessness. Greenland, two hun- 
dred and fifty miles distant from Iceland, was also reached, as 
is witnessed bv the Norse remains still to be observed there. 

The ships used by the Vikings have an especial interest. De- 
scriptions are not only preserved, but their remains have 
been found. Owing to the sea-roving propensities and the 
great desire to pillage other lands, ship-building was regarded 
as an honorable handicraft, and a great amount of time and 




A Viking Ship. 

thought were given to the subject. Some of the results must 
be regarded as extraordinary. These vessels had a good bow, 
a clean run alt, and the midship section was like a duck's breast. 
Oars were used as well as sails. According to the saga of Olaf 
Tryggvesson, that king had a ship built that was long and 
broad, with huge sails and strongly timbered. It v as called 
the Long Serpent, was shaped like a dragon, and had thirty- 
four benches for rowers. The head and arched tail were both 
gilt, and the bulwarks were as high as in sea-going ships. It 
was declared to have been the best and most costly of any ever 
built in Norway. Knud the Great had a dragon ship, with a 
dragon's head at the bow, and a dragon's tail at the stern. In 
the construction of these ancient vessels the rudder was placed 
aft, over the starboard side, and not in a line with the keel, and 
thus did not interfere with the dragon's tail. In the time of 
Erling Skakke, about iioo, two benches of rowers were intro- 



16 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

duced. The vessels were built a little higher aft than amidships, 
in order to allow the man at the helm to see well forward. In 
a sea-fight the sterns of the ships were lashed together, so that 
no ship could be attacked singly, in consequence of which the 
fighting was hottest forward oi the bows. The sides and rig- 
ging were decorated with shields. The sail used was square, 
made of woolen cloth, and often striped with broad rows of 
color. The mast was stepped in the best place for it, and as 
far forward as would admit of the sail doing its work. 

Several years ago two ancient vessels were found in Den- 
mark, embedded in the sand, one of which was seventy-two 
feet long and nine feet wide amidships, and the other forty-two 
feet long, containing two eight-sided spars, twenty-four feet 
long. 

It must be accorded to the Vikings that they possessed some 
nautical skill, and to some extent could calculate the course of 
the sun and moon, with some knowledge of measuring time by 
the stars. Their methods were necessarily crude, and at times 
must have proved ver}- faulty. As the mariner's compass was 
unknown in Europe till late in the twelfth century, it could not 
have been ufed among the Scandinavians until some time later. 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 17 



CHAPTER III, 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 

The manuscript in which are the narrations of the discovery 
of V^inland — or, as some would have it, America — is known as 
the Codex Flatoyensis, written about the year 1400; certainly 
not earlier than 1394, because annals are brought down to that 
time. The year when Leif Erikson is said to have discovered 
America is variousl}^ given; but from the various narrations 
the time may be approximately fixed at 1000. It would then 
appear that the event remained one solely of tradition for a 
period of four hundred y ars, kept alive by being repeated dur- 
ing the long winter nights by not less than twelve generations 
of men. 

The Codex Flatoyensis was unknown until the seventeenth 
century, when it was tound in the possession of John Finsson, 
who dwelt in Flatey, in Breidafirth, and who stated he had 
obtained it from his grandfather. It is claimed that the writing 
is the work of two priests, John Thordsson and Magnus Thor- 
hallsson. It contains a large number of sagas, poems, and 
stories, thrown together in strange contusion and wholly with- 
out criticism. No other manuscript confuses things on so vast 
a scale. In this codex is the saga of Olaf Tryggvesson, wherein 
the voyages ot Leit Erikson are described. The saga of Erik 
the Red, one of the chief narratives depended upon by the 
advocates of the Norse discovery, is in the same codex. The 
other principal saga on this subject is that of Thorfinn Karlsefne, 
which goes over the same ground covered by that of Erik the 
Red. 

The accounts of these voyages as given in the originals, or 
even in the translations, are too numerous and prolix to be re- 
produced in this place. In order to present a clear understand- 
ing, an abstract of some of the sagas will be necessar}'. 

According to the Codex Flatoyensis, one of Erik's compan- 
ions was Heriult Bardson, who had a son Biarne. This Biarne 
was absent in Norway at the time his father went to Greenland 
with Erik. When he returned to Iceland he resolved to spend 
the following winter with his father, and to that end set sail for 
Greenland. As neither himself nor an}' of his companions had 
ever navigated these seas before, he became lost in the fog that 
had set in. When the weather cleared up they found them- 



18 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

selves in sight ot a strange land to larboard. They again 
sighted land after two days' sail; and three days still later they 
came in sight of land that proved to be an island. They bore 
away, and in three days' sailing reached Greenland. The news 
of this discovery having come to the ears of Leif, son of Erik 
the Red, he determined to explore this newly-found land; so he 
purchased Biarne's vessel, and, with thirty-two men, sailed in 
the direction that had been indicated. The first land sighted 
was that which Biarne had seen last, and here they landed and 
called it Helluland. To them it appeared to have no advan- 
tages, for in the up-country were large snowy mountains, and 
from there down to the sea was one field of snow. They then 
put to sea, and soon came to another land, which was flat and 
overgrown with wood. This they called Markland. They put 
to sea again, with the wind from the northeast, and after two 
days made land. They landed upon an island, where they 
found the dew upon tt.e grass was sweeter than anything they 
had ever tasted. Next they sailed into a sound that was between 
the island and a ness that went out northward from the land, 
and sailed westward, and thence went on shore at a place where 
a river, issuing from a lake, fell into the sea. They brought 
their ship into the lake, and resolved to winter there; and for 
that purpose erected a large house on the shore. With them 
was a south countryman named Tyrker, who had a high fore- 
head, sharp eyes, with a small face, and was litde in size, and 
ugly. This man found grapes during the winter. With this 
they loaded their boat, and having loaded the vessel with wood, 
they returned to Greenland when spring arrived. The last land 
visited they called Vinland. 

It will be observed that the narration of this, the first voyage 
of Leif, is exceedingly indefinite. To tell what land was re- 
ferred to would be an utter impossibility. Practically there is no 
description of the coast. The time occupied in the voage be- 
tween Greenland and the first point of landing is not given. 
The distance between Cape Farewell, the most southerly point 
of Greenland, and Newfoundland is about six hundred miles. 
According to the saga of Erik the Red twenty-five ships started 
for Greenland from Iceland, only fourteen of which reached that 
country; the rest were either lost or driven back. No account 
of the voyage out or the return is given in this expedition of 
Leif. Even if only the coast of Labrador was reached, there 
was enough there to be seen, with the experience of the voyage, 
to have aroused necessary recitations. One might as well 
search for Gulliver's Luggnagg. As to the matter of grapes, 
these Icelanders did not know what grapes were, for they had 
never seen a grape-vine. As to Tyrker, the very description of 
him indicates that it was a character thrown in to assist the 
tale. Calling the country Vinland, or Wine-land, was no proof 
of wine, for Erik the Red boasted that he so named Greenland 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 19 

that the people would think it was a good land, and hence 
would have a desire to remove there. The sweet dew upon 
the grass and the frosts and snows are somewhat incongruous. 

The saga contradicts its first narrative by affirming that Leif 
discovered Vinland the Good at the time King Olaf sent him to 
Greenland to proclaim Christianity, and during his passage from 
Iceland to Greenland. 

After Leif's return his brother Thorwald, with thirty men, 
set out for Vinland. Nothing is related of the voyage until 
they came to the booths put up by Leif in Vinland. Here they 
wintered. When the spring opened Thorwald sent the long- 
boat westwara along the coast. They found many islands, but 
no abode for man and beast, "but on an island far towards the 
west they found a corn barn, constructed of wood. They found 
no other traces of human work." The next spring the ship 
proceeded eastward and towards the north, when it was driven 
upon the land and broke the keel. While here thev killed eight 
natives at one time. "Then a great drowsiness came upon 
them and they could not keep themselves awake, but all of 
them fell asleep. A sudden scream came to them, and they all 
awoke; and mixed with the scream they thought they heard 
the words: 'Awake, Thorwald, with all thy comrades, if ye 
will save thy lives. Go on board your ship as fast as you can, 
and leave this land without delay'." They were attacked by 
innumerable SkrasUings, who succeeded in killing Thorwald 
with an arrow. The following spring they returned to Green- 
land. 

In this narrative it will be noticed that they had no difficulty 
in finding the booths of Leif. Having found them, they went 
westtward and came upon a "corn barn constructed of wood." 
.Whence came this barn? Our ingenious annotators are ready 
with an answer: "A building ot this character would point to 
Europeans, who, according to minor narratives, preceded the 
Icelanders to America."* 

Thorstein, third son of Erik the Red, set out in the same ship 
for Vinland, to bring back his brother's body. He was accom- 
panied by his wife Gudrid and twenty five men, but after being 
tossed about on the ocean the whole summer without knowing 
where they were, they finally landed in Greenland, in the west- 
ern settlements. In the continuation of the story of Thorstem 
we have a narrative of the miraculous. Thorstein dies in the 
house of Thorstein Black. "Now Thorstein Erickson's illness 
increased upon him, and he died, which Gudrid, his wife, took 
with great grief. They were all in the room, and Gudrid had 
set herself upon a stool before the bench on which her husband 
Thorstein's body lay. Now Thorstein the Goodman took Gud- 
rid from the stool in his arms, and set himself with her upon a 

*Pre-Coluinbian Discovery, p. 108. 



20 PRECOLUMBIAJ^ DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

bench just opposite to Thorstein's body, and spoke much with 
her. He consoled her, and promised to go with her in summer 
to Eriksfiord, with her husband Thorstein's corpse, and those of 
his crew. 'And,' said he, 'I shall take with me many servants 
to console and assist.' She thanked him for this. Thorstein 
Ericson then raised himself up and said, 'Where is Gudrid?' 
And thrice he said this; but she was silent.' Then she said to 
Thorstein the Goodman, 'Shall I give answer or not?' He told 
her not to answer. Then went Thorstein the Goodman across 
the room and sat down in a chair, and Gudrid set herselt on 
his knee; and Thorstein the Goodman said, 'What wilt thou 
make known?' After awhile the corpse replies: 'I wish to tell 
Gudrid her fate beforehand, that she may be the better able to 
bear my death; for I have come to a blessed resting place. 
This I have now to tell thee, Gudrid, that thou wilt be married 
to an Iceland man, and ye will live long together, and from you 
will descend many men — brave, gallant and wise, and a well- 
pleasing race of posterity. Ye shall go from Greenland to 
Norway, and from thence to Iceland, where ye shall dwell. 
Long will ye live together, but thou will survive him; and then 
thou shalt go abroad, and so southward, and shall return to thy 
home in Iceland. And there must a church be built, and thou 
must remain there and be consecrated a nun, and there end thy 
days.'" All of which came to pass. The face of the story 
shows it to be a monkish fiction. 

The next voyage to Vinland was made by Thorfinn Karl- 
sefne, a trader. In the summer of 1006 he fitted out his ship 
in Iceland for a voyage to Greenland, attended b}^ Snorre Thor- 
brandson and a crew of forty men. At the same time another 
ship was fitted out for the same destination by Biarne Grimolf- 
son and Thorhall Gamlason, also with a crew of forty men. In 
the autumn of the same year both ships arrived safely at Eriks- 
fiord, in Greenland. Here Thorfinn fell in love with Gudrid, 
widow of Thorstein, and with Leif's consent married her that 
winter. In the spring of 1007 three ships were fitted out for 
an expedition to Vinland. Thorfinn fitted out his, and Biarne 
Grimofson and Thorhall Gamlason put their ships into shape,^ 
and the third was commanded by Thorward, on board of which 
was an attache of Erik named Thorhall. As this voyage is 
recognized to have been the most important of all the Norse 
voyages to Vinland, and as the narrative is the most complete, 
it is here given in full. In order to be wholly impartial in this 
quotation, I have given it as found in De Costa's "Pre-Colum- 
bian Discovery." 

"They sailed to the west district and thence to Biarney; 
hence they sailed south a night and a day. Then land was 
seen, and they launched a boat and explored the land; they found 
great flat stones, many of which were twelve ells broad. There 
were a great, number of foxes there. They called the land 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. ' 21 

Helluland. Then they sailed a day and a night in a southerly 
course, and came to a land covered with woods, in which there 
were many wild animals. Beyond this land, to the southeast, 
lay an island, on which they slew a bear. They called the 
island Bear Island, and the land Markland. Thence they sailed 
long south by the land and came to a cape. The land lay on 
the right side of the ship, and there were long shores of sand. 
They came to land, and found on the cape the keel of a ship, 
from which they called the place Kiarlarness, and the shores 
Wonderstrand, because it seemed so long sailing by. Then 
the land became indented with coves, and thev ran the ship into 
a ba}', whither they directed their course. King Olaf Trygg- 
vesson had given Leif two Scots, a man named Haki and a 
woman named Hekia; they were swifter of foot than wild ani- 
mals. These were in Karlsefne'sship. When they had passed 
beyond Wonderstrand, they put these Scots ashore, and told 
them to run over the land to the southwest three days, and dis- 
cover the nature of the land, and then return. They had a kind 
of garment that they called Kiafal^ that was so made that a hat 
was on top, and it was open at the sides, and no arms; fastened 
between the legs with a button and strap; otherwise they were 
naked. When they returned one had in his hand a bunch of 
grapes, and the other a spear of wheat. They went on board, 
and afterward the course was obstructed by another bay. Be- 
yond this bay was an island, on each side of which was a rapid 
current, that they called the Isle of Currrents. There was so 
great a number of eider ducks there that they could hardly step 
without treading on their eggs. They called this place Stream 
Bay. Here they brought their ships to land, and prepared to 
sta3^ They had with them all kinds of cattle. The situation 
of the place was pleasant, but they did not care for anything 
except to explore the land. Here they wintered without suffi- 
cient food. The next summer, failing to catch fish, they began 
to want food. Then Thorhall the hunter disappeared. They 
found Thorhall, whom they sought three days, on the top of a 
rock, where he lay breathing, blowing through his nose and 
mouth, and muttering. They asked why he had gone there. 
He replied that this was nothing that concerned them. They 
said that he should go home with them, which he did. After- 
ward a whale was cast ashore in that place; and they assembled 
and cut it up, not knowing what kind of a whale it was. They 
boiled it with water and ate it, and were taken sick. Then 
Thorhall said: 'Now you see that Thor is more prompt to give 
aid than your Christ. This was cast ashore as a reward for the 
hymn which I composed to my patron Thor, who rarely for- 
sakes me.' When they knew this, they cast all the remains of 
the vvhale into the sea, and commended their affairs to God. 
After which the air became milder, and opportunities were 
given for fishing. From that time there was an abundance ot 



22 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

lood; and there were beasts on the land, eggs in the island and 
fish in the sea. 

"They say that Thorhall desired to go northward around 
Wonderstrand to explore Vinland, but Karlsefne wished to go 
along the shore south. Then Thorhall prepared himself at the 
island, but did not have more than nine men is his whole com- 
pany, and all the others went in the company of Karlsefne. 
Thorhall sailed north to go around Wonderstrand and Kiarlar- 
ness, but when he wished to sail westward, they were met by a 
storm Irom the west and driven to Ireland, where they were 
beaten and made slaves. As merchants reported, there Thor- 
hall died. It is said that Karlsefne, with Snorre and Biarne and 
his comrades, sailed along the coast south. They sailed long 
until the}' came to a river flowing down from the land through 
a lake into the sea, where there were sandy shoals, where it 
was impossible to pass up, except with the highest tide. Karl- 
sefne sailed up to the mouth of the river with his folk, and 
called the place Hop. Having come to the land, they saw that 
where it was low corn grew; and where it was higher, vines 
were found. Every river was full of fish. They dug pits were 
the land began, and where the land was higher; and when the 
tide went down there were sacred fish in the pits. There were 
a great number of all kinds of wild beasts in the woods. They 
stayed there half a month and enjoyed themselves, and did not 
notice anything: they had their cattle with them. Early one 
morning, when they looked around, they saw a great many 
skin boats, and poles were swung upon them, and it sounded 
like reeds shaken by the wind, and they pointed to the sun. 
Then said Karlsefne, 'What may this mean?' Snorre Thor- 
brandson replied, 'It may be that this is a sign of peace, so let 
us take a white shield and hold it toward them.' They did so. 
Thereupon they rowed toward them, wondering at them, and 
came to land. These people were swarthy and fierce, and had 
bushy hair upon their heads; they had very large eyes and 
broad cheeks. The}' staid there for a time, and gazed upon 
those they met, and afterward rowed away southward around 
the ness. 

"Karlsefne and his people had made their houses above the 
lake, and some of their houses were near the lake, and others 
more distant. They wintered there, and there was no snow, 
and all their cattle fed themselves on the grass. But when 
spring came they saw, early one morning, that a number of 
canoes rowed from the south around the ness; so many, as if 
the sea were sown with coal; poles were also swung on each 
boat. Karlsefne and his people then raised up the shield, and 
when they came together they began to trade. These people 
would rather have red cloth; for this they offered skins and 
real furs. They would also buy swords and spears, but this 
Karlsefne and Snorre forbade. For a whole fur skin, the 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 23 

Skrtellings took a piece of red cloth a span long, and bound it 
round their heads. Thus went on their traffic for a time. Next 
the cloth began to be scarce with Karlsefne and his people, and 
they cut it up into small pieces, which were not wider than a 
finger's breadth, and ytt the SkrasUings gave just as much as 
before, and more. It happened that a bull which Karlsefne had 
ran out of the wood and roared aloud; this frightened the 
Skrcellings, and they rushed to their canoes and rowed away 
toward the south. After that they were not seen for three 
whole weeks. But at the end of that time a great number of 
Skr£ellings' ships were seen coming from the south like a rush- 
ing torrent, all the poles turned from the sun, and they all yelled 
very loud. Then Karlsefne took a red shield and held it toward 
them. The Skreellings leaped out of their vessels, and after 
this the}' went against each other and fought. There was a hot 
shower of weapons, because the Skrgellings had slings. Karl- 
sefne's people saw that they raised upon a pole a very large 
ball, something like a sheep's paunch, and of a blue color; this 
they swung from the pole over Karlsefne's men upon the ground, 
and it made a great noise as it fell down. This caused great 
fear with Karlsefne and his men, so that they only thought of 
running away; and they retreated along the river, for it seemed 
to them that the SkrasUings pressed them on all sides. They 
did not stop until they came to some rocks, where they made a 
bold stand. Freydis came out and saw that Karlsefne's people 
fell back, and she cried out, 'Why do you run, strong men as 
you are, before those miserable creatures whom I thought you 
would knock down like cattle? If I had arms, melhinks I could 
fight better than you.' They gave no heed to her words. Freydis 
would go with them, but she was slower because she was preg- 
nant; still she followed after them in the woods. She found a 
dead man in the woods; it was Thorbrand Snorreson, and there 
stood a flat stone stuck in his head; the sword lay naked by 
his side. This she took up and made ready to defend herself. 
Then came the Skr£ellings toward her; she drew out her breasts 
from under her clothes, and dashed them against the naked 
sword. By this the SkrasUings became frightened, and ran off 
lo their ships and rowed away. Karlsefne and his men then 
came up and praised her courage. Two men fell on Karlsefne's 
side, but a number of the SkrasUings. Karlsefne's band was 
overmatched. Next they went home to their dwellings and 
bound up their wounds, and considered what crowd that was 
that pressed upon them from the land side. It now seemed to 
them that it could have hardly been real people from the 
ships, but that there must have been optical illusions. The 
Skrtellings also found a dead man, and an axe lay by him; 
one of them took up the axe and cut wood with it, and then 
one after another did the same, and thought it was a fine thing 
and cut well. After that, one look it and cut at a stone, so that 



24 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

the axe broke, and then they thought that the axe was of no 
use, because it would not cut a stone, and they cast it away. 
Karlsefne and his people now thought thev saw that, although 
the land had many good qualities, they still would always be 
exposed to the tear ot attacks from the original dwellers. They 
decided, therefore, to go away and to return to their own land. 
They sailed northward along the shore, and tound five Skrael- 
lings, clad in skins, sleeping near the sea. They had with them 
vessels containing animal marrow mixed with blood. Karl- 
sefne's people thought that these men had been banished from 
the land; they killed them. After that they came to a ness, and 
many wild beasts were there, and the ness was covered all over 
with dung from the beasts, which had lain there during the 
night. Now they came back to Straumfiord, and there was a 
plenty of everything that they wanted to have. [It is thus ihat 
some men say that Biarne and Gudrid stayed behind, and one 
hundred men with them, and did not go farther; but that Karl- 
sefne and Snorre went southward, and forty men with them, and 
were no longer in Hop than barely two months, and the same 
summer came back.] Karlsefne then went with one ship to 
seek Thorhall the hunter, but the rest remained! behind, and 
they sailed northward past Kiarlarness, and thence westward, 
and the land was upon their larboard hand. There were wild 
woods over all, as far as the eye could see, and scarcely any 
open places. When they had sailed long a river ran out of 
the land east and west. They sailed into the mouth of the river 
and lay by its bank. 

"It chanced one morning that Karlsefne and his people saw 
opposite, in an open place in the woods, a speck which glittered 
in their sight, and they called out towards it, and it was a Uniped, 
which thereupon hurried down to the bank of the river where 
they lay. Thorwald Erikson stood at the helm, and the Uniped 
shot an arrow into his bowels. Thorwald drew out the arrow 
and said: 'It has killed me! To a rich land we have come, but 
hardly shall we enjoy any benefit from it.' Thorwald soon after 
died of his wound. Upon this the Uniped ran away to the 
northward. Karlsefne and his people went after him, and saw 
him now and then, and the last time they saw him he ran into 
a bay. They drew off to the northward, and saw the country 
of the Unipeds, but they would not then expose their men any 
longer. They locked upon the mountain range that was at 
Hop and that which they now found as all one, and it also ap- 
peared to be of equal length from Straumfiord to both places. 
The third winter they were in Straumfiord. They now became 
much divided by party feeling, and the women were the cause 
of it, for those who were unmarried would injure those who 
were married, and hence arose great disturbance. There was 
born the first autumn, Snorre, Karlsefne's son, and he was three 
years old when they went away. When they sailed from Vin- 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 25 

land they had a south wind, and then came to Markland, and 
found there five Skrasllings, and one was bearded; two were 
females and two were boys; they took the boys, but the others 
escaped, and the Skrasllings sank down in the ground. These 
boys they took with them; they taught them the language, and 
they were baptized. They called their mother Vathelldi, and 
their father Uvasge. They said that two kings ruled over the 
Skr£ellings, and that one was named Avalldania, but the other 
Valldidia. They said that no houses were there. People lived 
in caves or in holes They said there was a land on the other 
side, just opposite their country, where people lived who wore 
white clothes and carried poles before them, and to these were 
fastened flags; and they shouted loud, and the people think that 
this was White-man's land, or Great Ireland. 

"Biarne Grimolfson was driven with his ship into the Irish 
ocean, and they came into a worm sea, and soon the ship began 
to sink under them. They had a boat which was smeared with 
sea oil, for the worms* do not attack that. They went into the 
boat, and then saw that it would not hold them all. Then said 
Biarne: 'As the boat will not hold more than half of our men, 
it is my counsel that lots should be drawn for those to go in the 
boat, for it shall not be according to rank.' This they all 
thought so generous an offer that no one would oppose it. They 
then did so, that lots were drawn, and it fell to Biarne to go in 
the boat, and the half of the men with him, for the boat had 
not room for more. But when they had gotten into the boat, 
an Icelandic man that was in the ship, and had come with Biarne 
from Iceland said: 'Dost thou mean, Biarne, to leave me here?' 
Biarne said: 'So it seems.' Then said the other: 'Very different 
was the promise to my father when I went with thee from Ice- 
land, than thus to leave me, for thou said that we should both 
share the same fate.' Biarne said: 'It shall not be thus; go 
down into the boat, and I will go up into the ship, since I see 
that thou art so anxious to live.' Then Biarne went up into the 
ship and this man down into the boat, and after that they went 
on their voyage until they came to Dublin, in Ireland, and there 
told these things; but it is most people's belief that Biarne and 
' his companions were lost in the worm sea, for nothing was heard 
of them after that time."f 

Another account of this expedition differs somewhat from the 
one just given. According to the second, the expedition, carry- 
ing one hundred and forty men, first sailed to Westbygd and 
Blarney Isle. They left the latter place with a north wind, and 
after a day and a night came to Helluland. After another day 

*It is but just here 1o remark thatiVicary uses the word snakes, and says: " The 
story of Biarne sailing into a sea on the coast of Ireland so full of snakes that the 
ship sank, while half the people on board the ship were saved in a small boat, is not 
credible".— iS*afifa Times, p. SOU. 

tPp. 121-137. 



26 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

and a nights' sail they reached Bear Island. Another sail, occu- 
pying the same length of time, brought them to Kiarlarness, 
and called the shore Wonderstrand; and here they put the two 
Scots — Hake and Hekia — and told them to run southward and 
explore the country. Three days later they returned with a 
vine and seH-sown wheat. Thence the ships proceeded to 
Straumfiord, where they landed and prepared habitations, and 
here they wintered. They were in want of food, and failed to 
catch fish, as the winter was severe. They sailed over the 
island, hoping to obtain subsistence, but only found little better 
fare. They prayed to God to send food, without answer. Then 
Thorhall disappeared, but after three days was found by Karl- 
sefne and Biarne lying on top of a rock, and having asked him 
to go home with them he complied. After that a whale was 
cast up, and they partook of it, and all were made sick. Thor- 
hall boasted the whale was given in answer to a hymn he had 
composed to Thor. When they heard this they would not par- 
take any more, but threw what was left from the rock and 
committed themselves to God; then there was no lack of food. 
The company now parted, Thorhall, with nine men, going 
northward to explore Vinland, and Karlsefne, with the rest, 
went south. "Thereupon Thorhall sailed northward around 
Wonderstrand and Kiarlarness, but when they wished to cruise 
westward a storm came against them and drove them to Ireland, 
where they were beaten and made slaves. There Thorhall 
passed his life." Karlsefne and his party sailed south. "They 
sailed long until they came to a river which flowed from the 
land through a lake, and passed into the sea. Before the mouth 
of the river were great islands, and they were not able to enter 
the river except at the highest tide " They called the land 
Hop, and there found wild corn and vines. Here the}^ spent 
the winter, when no snow fell. Here they caught the two 
Skraelling boys. Thence they went to Greenland and passed 
the winter with Leif Erikson. 

In this second account the distance from Greenland to Vin- 
land is definitely given as three days' sail. While the two 
accounts are substantially the same, yet there is some material 
difference. The winter they were pressed for food, the second- 
account narrates, "they sailed over the island, hoping that they 
might find means of subsistence," while in the first this import- 
ant event is entirely omitted. The battle with the SkrasUings, 
the most striking of all the events in the three narratives, is 
entirely omitted in the second and diflers materially in the third. 
That no snow should fall in the Eastern United States would be 
a remarkable event. A like occurrence is not mentioned since 
the landing of the Pilgrims. It must have been very striking 
even to a Norsemen, and yet entirely omitted in the first and 
third narratives. The second account declares that Biarne was 
carried into the Greenland Sea, where he came into the "worm 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 27 

sea;" but does not state where the ship's crew landed, but allows 
us to suppose they landed in Greenland. 

The third narrative does not mention Biarne and Thorhall,but 
says that Karlsefne was pursuaded by Gudrid and others, and 
the expedition set out with sixty men and five women, with the 
agreement that all should share alike in what they gained. "They 
put to sea and came to Leif's houses safe and carried up their 
goods." Soon after a whale was driven ashore, and they had 
plenty of food. No account of its having made them sick is 
given. No account of their starving is given. The Skraellings 
came, and when they saw the milk and dairy products they 
w^ould buy nothing else, and the trade was such that the Skrael- 
lings "carried away their winnings in their stomachs." When 
they became frightened at the bellowing of the bull they sought 
refuge in the houses, but were prevented entering by Karlsefne. 
The house was now strengthened for defense by building around 
it a strong fence. In the beginning of the following winter the 
Skraellings, in greater numbers, returned and threw their bun- 
dles over the fence, for which they received the same as before. 
While Gudrid sat in the door, "there came a shadow to the 
door, and a woman went in with a black kirtle on, rather short, 
with a snood around her head; clear, yellow hair; pale, with 
large eyes, so large that none ever saw such eyes in a human 
head. She went to where Gudrid was sitting, and said: 'What 
art thou called?' 'I am called Gudrid; and what art thou 
called?' 'I am called Gudrid,' said she. Then the good wife 
Gudrid put out her hand to her, that she might sit down beside 
her. At the same time Gudrid heard a great noise, and the 
woman had vanished." No one else saw this strange woman. 
At the same time one of Karlsefne's men killed one of the Skrael- 
lings. Soon after they had a battle, in which many of the 
Skraellings fell. Here Karlsefne stayed the whole winter, and in 
the spring returned to Greenland. In this narrative the third 
year of their stay is entirely omitted. 

In addition to the above it should be remarked that the follow- 
ing items must appear to b& conspicuous in the narratives of 
Karlsefne's expedition: a. There is that same indefiniteness about 
the coast and description of the land characteristic of all the 
other narratives, and which might apply almost as well to one 
country as another. It is an exhibition of fictitious land, in- 
tended to help out the picture which the reciter finds necessary 
to create, not intended to be located or regarded as veritable his- 
tory, b. The number of men engaged in the expedition in one 
account is given at one hundred and forty, and in the third it is 
reduced to sixty. So the ships fall off from three to one. c. The 
time of sailing in the first narrative — not regarding the modern 
punctuation — is given at one day and a night to Helluland, the 
same to Markland; but the time to Wonderstrand is that "they 



28 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

sailed long south by the land." In the second account the'whole 
time occupied in sailing is but three days. The last version does 
not give the time, showing that the distance must have been 
considered to be insignificant, d. The first account declares that 
Thorwald Erikson was slain by an arrow shot by a Uniped. The 
same Codex Flatoyensis declares that Thorwald was killed by a 
Skraelling in a previous expedition. As both accounts give bat- 
tles with the Skraellings, it is probable these stories were gradu- 
ally evolved out and developed ft-om the same source, e. The 
story of the Uniped, and the yellow-haired woman visiting Gud- 
rid, belong to the mythological and miraculous, f. The account 
of the five Skraellings in Markland is very doubtful. The boys 
were seized and taken to Greenland, but the bearded man and 
two women sank into the earth and disappeared. The names of 
the boys' father and mother — Vathelldi, or Vethilde, and Uvaege 
— are decidedly Northern, while the kings* names — Avalldania 
and Valldidia, or Valdidida — are fragments of Northern names 
thrown together to constitute fictitious ones. Why these Skrael- 
lings should have white neighbors, who ''carried banners on 
sticks, must be lett solely to the creative fancy of the reciter. 
That it was borrowed from the European nations no one would 
desire to question. The names of the Scots — Haki and Hekia — 
are by no means Gaelic, but are decidedly Scandinavian, g. The 
story makes the eider-duck lay eggs where, during the same 
week, the grapes ripen and intoxicate when fresh, and the wheat 
forms in the ear ; an incongruity which could only happen among 
a people not familiar with the things treated, h. The story of 
the punishing of Thorhall the hunter for his impiety, and the 
rewarding of Karlsefne for throwing away the meat of the whale 
brought thither by the god Thor, indicates that the first legend 
had passed through monkish hands. It is exceedingly crude, 
and perhaps told to show the inferiority of the Norse god. i. The 
ship driven into Dublin, Ireland, with no account of the sail, 
proves that the story of Vinland is laid at no great distance 
from Ireland. But why they were driven upon the east instead 
of the west coast must remain an inexplicable mystery. 

The next voyage in the series relied on to establish the Norse 
theory is the so-called narrative of Freydis, Helge and Finboge. 
It starts out by declaring "the conversation began again to turn 
upon a Vinland voyage, as the expedition was both gainful and 
honorable." In the summer of loio two brothers, Helge and 
Finboge arrived in Greenland from Norway. Freydis, she who 
had so successfully frightened the Skraellings in Vinland, pro- 
posed to these brothers that they should make a voyage to Vin- 
land, and offered to go with them on condition that an equal 
share should be allowed her; which was agreed to. It was 
further agreed that each should have thirty fighting men, besides 
women. Freydis secretly brought away five more than the al- 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 29 

lotted number. Having spent the winter in Vinland, Freydis 
prevailed upon her husband to slay Helge'and Finboge, with all 
their men ; the women with them she killed with her own hand. 
She returned to Greenland in the ship owned by the two brothers 
with all the goods the vessel could carry. 

This story says nothing of the voyage from Greenland to 
Vinland, nor any account of the country ; but apparently had 
no difificulty in finding the houses erected by Leif Erikson. They 
left Vinland in the spring, but what time is not stated, although 
the ship was made ready early in the spring. They "had a 
good voyage and the ship came early in the summer to Eriks- 
fiord." 

Human credulity, in many cases, can not be overtaxed. It 
has been gravely put forth* that in the year 1312 Bishop Arne, 
of Gardar, preached the crusades, not only in Iceland and Green- 
land, but also in America! That a ship arrived from Greenland 
in 1325, bringing "the tithes from the American colonies, con- 
sisting of one hundred and twenty-seven pounds of walrus-teeth, 
which were sold to Jean du Pre, a Flemish merchant, who paid 
for them twelve livres and fourteen sous." As the narrations do 
not record any permanent settlements in Vinland, just what par- 
ticular object the worthy bishop hoped to obtain, it would be 
difficult to conjecture. The donation of two dollars and thirty- 
five cents' worth of walrus-teeth, and that given after a delay 
of thirteen years, would appear to be an ironical appreciation of 
the energies of the bishop. As the habitat of the walrus is con- 
fined to the northern circumpolar regions of the globe, and as 
the contribution consisted in the remains of this animal, it would 
be but fair to conclude that it was the principal product, and 
hence Vinland must be sought in the far north.' 

Having presented the special character of the sagas, and given 
something of a detailed account, in the next place the general 
features must attract our attention. 

As has already been observed, the evidence of the reputed 
Norse discovery of America rests solely on the statement of the 
Codex Flatoyensis. A discovery so great would have found its 
way into the other sagas, and yet they are silent on the subject. 
In the Heimskringla,Snorri Sturlasson is made to say, "Leif also 
found Vinland the good." If Leif had made a discovery of a 
continent like that of America it is not probable that Snorri 
would have dismissed the subject in so abrupt a manner. He 
would have seized upon it, and magnified the achievement, and 
graced it with the power of his pen, as has been exhibited in his 
Edda. We would have been treated to other Thucydidean 
speeches, similar to those that mark his productions. 

As a constant communication was kept up between Iceland 

*John B. Shipley's "English Rediscovery of America," p. 6. 



30 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

and Ireland, it would be but reasonable to infer that the national 
records of the Irish would contain some account of the import- 
ant discovery. The Irish annals have been relied on so much 
to solve historical problems, and have been of untold advantage, 
yet they are entirely silent upon this subject ; although the Irish 
character entered into the very life of the western sagamen. 

Saxo-Grammaticus, the most celebrated of early Danish chron- 
iclers who, according to his own statement, derived his knowl- 
edge of the remoter period of Danish history from old songs, 
runic inscriptions and the historical narratives and traditions of 
the Icelanders, makes no mention of this story, although he lived 
as late as the year 1204. 

Although the Codex Flatoyensis gives a graphic and terrible 
picture of shipwrecked colonists in Greenland, yet is utterly 
silent on what must have been the sufferings of Biarne Gnmolf- 
son and his companions when driven from the coast of America 
to Dublin. And yet that stormy passage of nearly three thousand 
miles was made as though it was but a pleasant day's sail. 

The ease with which the houses of Leif in Vinland were found 
on each succeeding voyage must be a matter of surprise to every 
one who has read the narratives. The ships seem to have been 
attracted to the spot as readily as the needle points to the pole. 

Why so much space in the sagas should be taken up with end- 
less o-enealogies, and the discovery of a vast continent passed 
over'Vithout description— vague, it is true, is given, uncertain, 
indefinite— as to surface, coast line, climate, or the wonders in 
the wilderness, must serve to dumbfound even its most voluble 
advocates. The animal life that existed in the forests of Massa- 
chusetts, Maine and Connecticut did not call forth any notice. 
True they saw a bear, but its color or size elicited no attention, 
though they must have seen the polar and the Norwegian bears. 
Can ft be possible that they were so dumb to nature as to allow 
its wonders to escape their attention? Minute the sagas are in 
minor things, is it possible the greater things caused them not 

to wonder? . 

If they landed in Massachusetts, or on any part of the eastern 
coast the advantage of the situation over that of Greenland or 
Iceland must have been so patent as to cause a wave of immi- 
crration to have set in as would have depopulated Greenland, 
materially have affected Iceland, and even felt in Norway. 

Norway abandoned the Greenland settlement, but did not for- 
cret there was such a place. Vinland was forgotten and the Norse 
discovery was not resurrected until 1570, when Ortelius cos- 
mocrrapher to Philip II. of Spain, resurrected it. If the Norse 
discovered America, and made one or more voyages to it. and 
then forgot that discovery, or hid the report, then it must be to 
them a shame which time will fail to eradicate. To claim that 
the Norsemen discovered America is an impeachment of their 



THE SAGAS AND AMERICA. 31 

intelligence. That there was a Leif Erikson, and that he was the 
son of Erik the Red, and made his home in Greenland, perhaps 
no one would desire to deny ; that he came upon a land which 
he gave various names to, is not only possible but also probable. 
That the land he discovered was not so well situated or attractive 
as the home of Erik is proved from the fact that he abandoned 
his houses in Vinland and returned to his former home. All 
the facts in the case would point to Western Greenland as the 
scene of the achievement of Leif Erikson. The Skrsellings 
were Eskimos, as may be learned from the descriptions given: 
"These people were swarthy and fierce, and had bushy hair on 
their heads; they had very large eyes and broad cheeks." In 
1342 the Eskimo so imperilled the western colonies of Greenland 
that they were abandoned These settlements could not have 
been strong, and probably were made after the death of Leif. 

How much dependence can be placed in certain statements 
must be left to conjecture. No reliance can be placed in the 
points of the compass, for with that instrument they had no ac- 
quaintance. It must be regarded as comparative, when the direc- 
tion of the ship's sailing is given. In Leif's voyage the shortest 
day in Vinland was from " dagmaal til non," that is, from nine 
to three. 

In the legends of Greenland and Iceland sufficient data had 
been preserved upon which such a narrative could be built as 
would tickle the ear of those whose ancestors were lauded. As 
has been seen, these narratives are crude and poorly constructed, 
but clearly represent the beginning of fiction, which might have 
been better adorned had they fallen into more competent hands. 

The mighty ocean stretching out itself beyond the Pillars of 
Hercules, Ireland and the Western Isles, afforded food for the 
imaginations of men. The influence was felt by the sagamen, 
who pictured a body of land west of Ireland and within easy 
sail. Tales grew out of this pictured land, which have been pre- 
served in their writings. One of these is the story of Gudleif 
Gudlaugson, preserved in the Eyrbyggia saga. Near the end of 
the reign ot King Olaf, Gudleif went on a trading voyage to the 
west of Dublin. On his return to Iceland, sailing west from 
Ireland, he was driven far into the ocean by northeast winds. At 
length they saw land of great extent, and finding a good harbor 
they went on shore, where a number of men met them, and from 
their language took them to be Irish. Soon after many hun- 
dreds surrounded them, who seized Gudleif and his companions, 
bound and drove them inland, where they were brought before 
an assembly which decided what should be done with them. 
There was a division in the council; some were for killing them, 
and others were for reducing them to slavery. "While this was 
going on, they saw a great number of men riding towards them 
with a banner lifted up, whence they inferred that some great 



32 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

man was among them. When the company drew near, they saw 
a man riding under the banner." To this man their case was 
referred. He commanded them to be brought to him, and ad- 
dressed them in the Norse ton'gue. When he discovered they 
were Icelanders, he declared he was from Bogafiord, and made 
many inquiries concerning certain people. He refused to dis- 
close his name, and, although the summer was nearly gone, he 
advised them to leave, and looked to the fitting out of their ship. 
Gudleif. with his companions, put to sea, and the same autumn 
reached Ireland, and passed the winter in Dublin. 

According to the Landnamabok, Are Marson, about 928, was 
driven by a storm to White-man's land, which some call Ireland 
the Great, which lies in the western ocean, opposite Vinland, six 
days' sail west of Ireland. Here he was baptized, not allowed 
to leave, and was held in great honor. 

In presenting these tales the reciters do not get rid of their 
conceptions of European customs. In the fabulous land, men 
continue to ride on horseback and follow banners. Even the 
Christian religion early reaches out its arm there; but what saint 
propogated the new doctrine deponeth saith not. 

The idea of superstition must not be lost sight of in this dis- 
cussion. , It had a bearing on these narratives, as has already 
been intimated. In saga time it is impossible to draw a line be- 
tween superstition and religion. Their superstitions were rude 
in shape and vigorous in imagery. The composers of the sagas, 
although supposed to be Christians, were swayed by the super- 
stitions of their age. As an illustration of this fact, the follow- 
ing may be given from the saga of Thorfinn Karlsefne : There 
was a witch named Thorborg, who was called upon during a time 
of evil in Greenland. She was accorded the seat of honor, wore 
a blue cloak, laced in front and covered with precious stones. 
On her head was a black lambskin, trimmed with white cat's fur, 
while in her hand was a staff, the top of which was brass inlaid 
with precious stones. Around her waist was a belt, from which 
hung a bag containing materials for fire, and the articles used in 
sorcery. After making the witches' broth, some other woman 
must sing the witches' chant. The women of the house were 
placed around the caldron, and Gudrid sang so sweetly that the 
spirits revealed that as the winter passed away so would the bad 
times and the pestilence should decline. These superstitions 
gave a coloring to what was written ; and the sagas bearing on 
the Norse discovery should be read in their entirety, and not 
solely that part relating directly on the subject. 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 33 



CHAPTER IV. 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 

The records concerning the Icelandic colony in Greenland 
are meager, uncertain and fragmentary. What finally became 
of the colony is unknown. Communication ceased with Green- 
land some time durin^^ the fifteenth century. However, it was 
not wholly forgotten. Many expeditions set out to undertake 
its rediscovery, which was not effected until 1721, when Hans 
Egede succeeded in re-opening communication; but he found no 
descendants of the Norsemen there. 

Ancient ruins in Greenland do not appear to be either numer- 
ous or extensive. It is probable the colony never was a large 
one. Near Igaliko, which is situated on an isthmus formed by 
two fjords, there can be traced the walls of about seventeen 
dwellings, and opposite the Moravian settlement of Frederiksdal 
there have been found tombs containing^ wooden coffins, with 
skeletons wrapped in hairy cloth, and both pagan and Christian 
tomb-stones, with runic inscriptions. 

With these evidences before them the Copenhagen antiquar- 
ians felt assured that remains of the Norsemen could also be 
found in the eastern part of the United States, and in order to 
establish their conclusions they sent out letters of inquiry to 
societies and individuals for information. Thus having been put 
on the trail the evidence was forthcoming. The Historical 
Society of Rhode Island was quick to respond, and procured 
such data as must have not only delighted but astonished the 
Copenhagen sages The Dighton Rock Inscription, the Old 
Stone Mill at Newport and the Skeleton in Armor constitute 
the array of evidence. That these purported evidences had 
much to do with giving the exact location of the so-called Norse 
settlements there can be no question. The Icelandic manu- 
scripts at once pointed to the exact spot where the Dighton 
Rock is placed. The inscription on the rock was carefully 
studied by the Danish antiquarians, from the lines and figures 
carefully drawn by the authority of the Rhode Island Society. 
The result of the labors of the JRoyal Society of Antiquaries of 
Copenhagen was published in 1837, in a book entitled "Anti- 
quitates Americanas," to which a supplement was added in 
1841. This work, with the American array of purported facts, 
gave zest to the subject of the Norse discovery. With confi- 
dence the route of the Norsemen along the shore of New Eng- 



34 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

land and the positions they occupied were pointed out. So 
great was the elation of feeling that it could scarcely be confined 
within reasonable limits, and soon, under this inspiration, the 
Scandinavians penetrated into the southern portions of the 
United States. How much farther they would have gone it is 
impossible to say had not the tide been checked by a more 
sober and rational view of the American monuments. 

With all the light that has been thrown upon the Dighton 
Rock, it would be reasonable to suppose that no one would de- 
sire to bring it forth as proof of the Norse expeditions. Certain 
subjects, similar to certain men, die hard. One man — Professor 
R. B. Anderson — thus announces his undying faith: "Until 
sufficient proof of some other origin of the Newport Tower 
and the Dighton Rock inscription are given, we shall persist in 
claiming them as relics of the Norsemen."* In his chapter on 
Thorfinn Karlsefne he is moved to say: "In the next place, at- 
tention is invited to an inscription on a rock, situated on the 
right bank of the Taunton River, in Bristol County, Mass. It is 
familiarly called the Dighton Writing Rock Inscription. It stands 
in the very region which the Norsemen frequented. It is written 
in characters which the natives have never used nor sculptured. 
This inscription was copied by Dr. Danforth as early as 1680, 
by Cotton Mather in 1712; it was copied by Dr. Greenwood in 
1730, by Stephen Sewell in 1768, by James Winthrop in 1788, 
and has been copied at least four times in the present century. 
The rock was seen and talked of by the first settlers in New 
England long before anything was said about the Norsemen 
discovering America before Columbus. Near the center of the 
inscription we read distinctly, in Roman characters, CXXXI, 
which IS 151, the exact number of Thorfinn's party. Then we 
find an N, a boat, and the Runic character for M, which may 
be interpreted, 'N(orse) sea-faring M(en).' Besides we have the 
word NAM — took (took possession), and the whole of Thor- 
finn's name, with the exception of the first letter. Repeating 
these characters we have,'ORFIN, CXXXI, N (picture of a 
boat), M, NAM, which has been interpreted by Prof. Rafn as 
follows: 'Thorfinn, with one hundred and fifty-one Norse sea- 
faring men, took possession of this land (landnam).' In the 
lower left corner of the inscription is a figure of a woman and 
a child, near the latter of which is the letter S, reminding us 
most forcibly of Gudrid and her son, Snorre. Upon the whole, 
the Dighton Writing Rock, if Prof. Rafn's plates and interpre- 
tations can be relied upon, removes all doubt concerning the 
presence of Thorfinn, Karlsefne and the Norsemen at Taunton 
River, in the beginning of the eleventh century." f 

Prof. Anderson appears to be utterly oblivious to the fact 
that investigations have been made concerning this rock, since 



♦America Not Discovered by Columbus, p. 22. 
tAmerica Not Discovered by Columbus, pp. 82, 83. 




'V 






36 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

Prof. Rafn's opinions were oublished. It is but charitable to 
assume that Prof. Anderson 'never heard ot the results of this 
inquiry, although they have repeatedly been published. It will 
be noticed that Prof. Anderson indirectly admits that if the 
Dighton Rock does not confirm the Norse discoveries, then 
there is doubt concerning the presence of Norsemen at Taun- 
ton river. i t^ r- . • u- 
The more judicious and better informed De Costa, in his 
chapterless volume, entitled Pre-Columhian Discoveries of 
America, although, apparently he has exhausted the evidences 
bearing on his theme, devotes but little space in the body of his 
work to the American monument, but his references, where 
made, are mostly in the form of foot notes. In one of these 
notes, concerning Dighton Rock, he affirms that "whoever 
compares this inscription with those of undeniably Indian origin 
found elsewhere, cannot fail to be impressed with the similarity. 
* * Just over these letters is a character, supposed to be Roman 
also, which may signify NA, or MA, the letter A being formed 
by the last branch of M. Now MA in Icelandic is used as an 
abbreviation of Madr, which signifies the original settler of a 
country." f 

By competent observers the Dighton Rock has been de- 
scribed as a large angular block of greenstone trap, presenting 
a smooth inclined line of structure, or natural face towards the 
channel. It lies on a large flat in the bend of the river, and is 
exposed or laid bare at ebb-tide, but covered with several feet of 
water at the flow, submerging the rock, with its inscription. 
The action of the tide, thus diurnally assailing the inscription, 
which has continued for a great length of years, has tended 
to obliterate the traces of all pigments and stains, which the 
aborigines are known to have employed to eke out their rock- 
writings or drawings. The effect of disintegration from atmos- 
pheric causes have been probably less, under this action of the 
water, than is usual in drv situations. But as the tide deposits 
upon its surface a light marine scum, which necessarily renders 
any scientific examination of the inscription unsatisfactory with- 
out a thorough removal of all recremental or deposited matter. 

Washington, who was well versed in Indian matters, on being 
shown a delineation of the rock, pronounced the drawings 
aboriginal. In 1839, Mr. Schoolcraft employed Ching Wauk, 
an intelligent Algonkin chief, well versed in Indian pictography, 
to descipher the inscription from the engravings of the rock 
that appeared in "Antiquities Americanae," one of which was 
made in 1790, and the other in 1830. Selecting the former he 
pronounced it Indian, that it related to two nations, and con- 
sisted of two parts. All the figures to the left of a hne drawn 
through it which would not touch any part of the figures related 

tPre-Columblan Discovery ; p. 66. 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 37 

to the acts and exploits of the chiet", represented by the key- 
figure, No I, and all the devices to the right of it had reference 
to his enemies and their acts. There was nothing depicted in 
either of the figures to denote a foreigner. There was no figure 
of, or sign for, a gun, sword, axe, or other implement, such as 
were brought by white men beyond the sea. 

One engraving, taken from Schoolcraft's "Indian Tribes," 
"presents unity of original drawing corresponding to the Indian 
system, which cannot fail to strike the observer. It is entirely 
Indian, and is executed in the symbolic character which the Al- 
gonkins call Kekeewin, i. c.^ teachings. The fancied resem- 
blances to old forms of the Roman letters or figures, which 
appear on tl^ e Copenhagen copies, wholly disappear. The only 
apparent exception to this remark is the upright rhomboidal 
figure resembling some forms of the ancient ^ , but which ap- 
pears to be an accidental resemblance. No trace appears, or 
could be found by the several searches of the assumed Runic 
letter Thor, which holds a place on former copies. Rock in- 
scriptions of a similar character have within a few years been 
found in other parts of the country, which denote the prevalence 
of this system among the aboriginal tribes from the Atlantic to 
the Mississippi. It is more particularly an Algonkin trait, and 
tne mscriptions are called by them Muzzinabiks, or rock-teach- 
ing, while the elements of the system itself are called, as above 
stated, Kekeewin and Kekeenowin." * 

The great dissimilarity in the different delineations of the 
forms of the marks on the Dighton stone, in which no two 
would appear to be intended for the same design, must neces- 
sarily shake confidence in the possibility of assigning it to a 
Dositive significance in linguistics. In speaking of this rock. 
Dr. Wilson says : "At the meeting of the American ,Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science, at Albany, in 1856, I had 
an opportunity of inspecting a cast of the Rock. No more con- 
fused and indistinct scrawl ever tried the eyes of antiquarian 
seer. Mine proved wholly unable to discern the invaluable 
holograph of the ancient Norse Columbus. Indeed, the indis- 
tinctness of the half-obliterated design, and the rough natural 
surface of the weathered rock on which the figures have been 
scratched with the imperfect tools of some Indian artist, abun- 
dantly account for the variations in successive copies, as well as 
for the fanciful additions which enthusiastic copyists have made 
out of its obscure lines." f 

The question of the Runic letters found on the rock should 
not be passed lightly over. Prof. Rafn attempted to show that 
there were positively two or three of these characters on it. 
In the quotation from Schoolcraft, above given, it will be noticed 
that he expressly declares that "no trace appears, or could be 

♦See Schoolcraft's Dissertation in his "Indian Tribes," Vol. IV, p. 120. 
tPrehistoricMan; p. 406. 



38 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

found by the several searches, of the assumed Runic letter 
Thor, which holds a place on former copies." Now, whether 
or not Prof. Rafn found what he specially was in search of, or 
else some one purposely deceived him by injecting Runic char- 
acters into the copy, cannot be determined at this late date. 
Bitter experience has taught the antiquarian to weigh Runic 
well before arriving at a decision. As an illustration, the case 
ot Prof. Finn Magnusen may be cited with profit. In the Swe- 
dish province of Bleking is a rock (called "Runamo") wiih a 
so-called Runic inscription relating to the battle between king 
Harold Hildetand, of Denmark, and the Swedish king Sigurd 
Rmg, fought about the year 700 of our era. Under the auspices 
of the Royal Danish Academy of Science, in the year 1833, a 
committee of scientists were sent to visit the rock, and carefully 
investigate, and make a complete report in regard to it. Prot. 
Finn Magnusen, a member of the committee, in 1841, published 
an illustrated quarto work of 742 pages relating to the inscrip- 
tion, under the title Rtmamo og Runerne. The following is the 
rendering of the inscription : 

• " Hildekind occupied the empire 

Gard cut in (the runes) 
Ole gave oath (oath of allegiance) 
(May) Odin hallow the runes 
(May) Ring fall 
On this earth 
Alf8, love gods 
(Hate) Ole 
Odin and Freja 
And Acer's descendants 
(May) Destroy our enemies 
Grant Harold 
A great victory." 

In 1842 and 1844, the eminent Danish archaeologist, J. J. A. 
Worsae, visited the Rtmamo Rock^ and after having carefully 
examinee it, came to the following conclusion : "There is no 
Runic inscription whatever on Runamo Rock, and that the 
marks considered as runes 'by Finn Magnusen are simply the 
natural cracks on the decayed surface of a trap dyke filling up 
a rent in a granitic formation." It is probable that there are 
some still living who will continue to believe that these natural 
markings are runes. 

The discussion of the Dighton Rock cannot be more fitly 
closed than in the interesting summary made by Dr. Wilson : 

"The history of this inscription is scarcely surpassed, in the 
interest it has excited or the novel phases it has exhibited at 
successive epochs ot theoretical speculation, by any Perusinian, 
Eugubine, or Nilotic riddle. When the taste of American 
antiquaries inclined towards Phoenician relics, the Dighton in- 
scription conformed to their opinions ; and with changing 
tastes it has proved equally compliant. In 1783, the Rev. Ezra 
Stiles, D. D., President of Yale College, when preaching before 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 39 

the governor of the state of Connecticut, appealed to the Digh- 
ton Rock, graven, as he believed, in the old Punic or Phoenician 
character and language; in proof that the Indians were of the 
accursed seed of Canaan, and were to be displaced and rooted 
out bv the European descendants of Japhet. 'The Phoenicians,' 
he affirms, 'charged the Dighton and other rocks in Narragan- 
set Bay with Punic inscriptions remaining to this day, which 
last I myself have repeatedly seen and taken off at large, as did 
Prof. Sewell. He has lately transmitted a copy of this inscrip- 
tion to Mr. Gebelin, of the Parisian Academy of Sciences, 
who, comparing them with the Punic palaeography, judges them 
to be Punic, and has interpreted them as denoting that the 
ancient Carthaginians once visited these distant regions' * * * 
Here, then, we perceive the very materials we stand in need of. 
Change but this Punic into a Runic inscription, and the winds 
of the north will fit the Scandinavian Icelanders far better than 
voyagers from the Mediterranean Sea * * * So early as 
1680, Dr. Danforth executed what he characterized as a 'faith- 
ful and accurate representation of the inscription' on Dighton 
Rock. In 1712, the celebrated Cotton Mather procured draw- 
ings of the same, and transmitted them to the Secretary of the 
Royal Society of London, with a description, printed in the 
Philosophical Transactions for 17 14, referring to it as 'an in- 
scription in which are seven or eight lines, about' seven or eight 
feet long, and about a foot wide, each of them engraven with 
unaccountable characters, 7iot like any known character.'' In 1730, 
Dr. Isaac Greenwood, HolHsian Professor at Cambridge, New 
England, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of Lon- 
don a drawing of the same inscription, accompanied with a 
description which proves the great care with which his copy 
was executed. In 1768, Mr. Stephen Sewall, Professor of Ori- 
ental Languages at Cambridge, New England, took a careful 
copy, the size of the original, and deposited it in the Museum of 
Harvard University; and a transcript of this was forwarded to 
the Royal Society of London, six years later, by Mr. James Win- 
throp, HolHsian Professor of Mathematics. In 1786, the Rev. 
Michael Lort, D. D., one of the vice-presidents of the Society of 
Antiquaries of London, again brought the subject, with all its 
accumulated illustrations, before that society; and Col. Vallency 
undertook to prove that the inscription was neither Phoenician 
nor Punic, but Siberian. Subsequently, Judge Winthrop exe- 
cuted a drawing in 1788 ; and again we have others by Judge 
Baylies and Mr. Joseph Gooding in 1790, by Mr. Kendall in 
1807, by Mr. Job Gardner in 181 2, and finally, in 1830, by a 
commission appointed by the Rhode Island Historical Society, 
and communicated to the Antiquaries of Copenhagen with 
elaborate descriptions: which duly appear in their Antiquitaties 
Americana^, in proof of novel and very remarkable deductions. 
Surely no inscription, ancient or modern, not even the Behistun 



40 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

cuneatics, or the trilingual Rosetta Stone, ever received more 
faithful study. After inspecting the rude scrawls of which it 
chiefly consists, it is pleasant to feel assured of this, at least : 
that when learned divines, professors and linguists thus perse- 
veringly questioned this New England sphinx for upwards of a 
century and a half, we have good proof that no more valuable 
inscriptions have been allowed to perish unrecorded. But the 
most curious matter relating to this written rock is, that after 
being thus put to the question by learned inquisitors for a hun- 
dred and fifty years, it did at length yield a most surprising 
response. 

The description given by Prof Greenwood of his own process 
of copying, and by Prof. Winthrop of the method pursued by 
his colleague, Mr. Sewall — as well as the assiduity and zeal of 
other copyists — would, under all ordinary circumstances, have 
seemed to render any further reference to the stone itself super- 
fluous. But no sooner do the Danish antiquaries write to their 
Rhode Island correspondents, with a hint of Leif Erikson and 
other old Norsemen's New England explorations than the 
Dighton Rock grows luminous; and the Rhode Island Com- 
mission sends a new drawing to Copenhagen, duly engraved, 
with all the others, in the Antiquitates Americance, from which 
the learned Danes, Finn Magnusen and Charles C. Rafn — as 
indeed the most unlearned of English or American readers 
may — discern the name of Thorfinn, with an exact, though by 
no means equally manifest enumeration of the associates who, 
according to the saga, accompanied Karlselne's expedition to 
Vinland in A. D. 1007. The annals of antiquarian exploration 
record many marvellous disclosures, but few more surprising 
than this."* 

The Dighton Rock inscription having been so well received 
in Copenhagen, Dr. Webb, the Secretary of the Rhode Island 
Society, again essayed to enlighten the Danes, so sent them a 
drawing of the circular stone mill at Newport, along with some 
metallic implements foi^ind in conjunction with a skeleton at Fall 
River. These new evidences were published in the Supplement 
to Antiquitates Americance^ which appeared in 1841. Much 
learning was employed to prove by analogies that these also 
were of Norse origin. That the Round Tower at Newport, 
Rhode Island, is of Scandinavian origin rests on no other foun- 
dation than that of bold assertion. And yet the idea has found 
its way into our school books, and a picture of it is given, in 
attestation o( the early visit of the Icelanders. This structure, 
which has so forcibly been pressed into service to do duty in 
substantiating an unhappy theory, stands on an eminence in the 
center of the town of Newport, being about twenty-four feet 
high arid twenty-three feet in diameter, circular in form. It 

*Prehlstoric Man, pp. 403-406. 



1 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 



41 



rests upon eight piers, connected by arches ; has four small 
windows, and, high up the wall, above the arches, was a small 
fire-place. The columns are about ten feet high; the height of 
the center of the arches from the ground is twelve feet six inches, 
and the loundation extends to the depth of four or five feet. 
The stones composing the structure are irregular in size and not 
placed in regular layers. 

If this tower was standing when Rhode Island was first set- 
tled, it would have been a work of so great wonder as to have 
attracted general attention. Newport was founded in 1639, and 




^LD STONE MILL 



in none of the early documents is there any mention of the Old 
Mill. There was no tradition concerning it among the people, 
but was universally referred to as a wind-'niill, showing for what 
purpose it had been used, and is positively known to have served 
during the eighteenth century, both as a mill and powder-house. 
It is first distinctly mentioned in the will ot governor Benedict 
Arnold, of Newport, where it is called "my stone-built wind- 
mill." Had it been an ancient monument, Dr. Danforth, in 1680, 
or Cotton Mather, in 171 2, would not have failed to mention it. 

The first house in Newport was built by Nicholas Easton, but 
he makes no mention of the Old Stone Mill. In 1663, Peter 
Easton wrote, "this year we built the first wind-mill," and in 
1675, he again wrote, "a storm blew down our wind-mill." 

Benedict Arnold must have been a very popular man in Rhode 
Island, for he was several times governor, the last time from 
1677 to 1678. He came from Providence to Newport in 1653. 
He built a house upon a lot of sixteen acres, the eastern part of 



42 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

which includes the mill. Gov. Arnold died in 1678, aged sixty- 
three years. His will is dated December 20, 1677, in which he 
enjoins: "My body I desire and appoint to be buried at ye 
northeast corner of a parcel of ground containing three rods 
square, being of, and lying in, my land, in or near the line or 
path trom my dwelling house, leading to my stone-built wind- 
mill, in ye town of Newport above mentioned." Edward 
Pelham, son-in-law of above, in his will dated May 21, 1741, in 
his bequest to his daughter, Hermseoine, says: "Also one other 
piece or parcel of land situated, lying and being in Newport 
aforesaid, containing eight acres or thereabouts, with an old 
stone wind-mill thereon standing, and being and commonly 
called and known by the name of the mill field, or upper field." 
In 1834, Joseph Mumford, then being eighty years old, stated 
that his lather was born in 1699, and always spoke of the build- 
ing as a powder-mill, and he himself remembered that in his 
boyhood, or about 1760, it was used as a hay mow. Another 
octogenarian, John Langley, remembered hearing his father say, 
that when he was a boy, which must have been early in the 
eighteenth century, he carried corn to the mill to be ground. 

In these citations it will be observed that Arnold does not call 
It an "old" mill, but 9iy "stone-built wind-mill." At the time 
that Pelham made his will the mill had been standing not less 
than sixty-five years, and hence he very properly designates it 
"an old stone wind-mill." 

Besides the historical testimony there is the evidence derived 
from the mill itself. The composition of the mortar is shells, 
sand and gravel. In the year 1848 some mortar taken from an 
old stone house in Spring street, built by Henry Bull, in 1639, 
some from the tomb ot Governor Arnold, and some from various 
other buildings, was compared with the mortar of the old mill, 
and proved to be identical in quality and character. 

The object of constructing the mill on pillars was, that the 
wind having a free passage through, there was no eddy wind 
caused to make a back sail and thus lessen the power. The 
form is that of English mills of the same period. A similar 
mill was erected, in 1652, in Chesterton Parish, three miles from 
Leamington. Whether or not Arnold came from Leamington, 
it might be difficult to determine, yet, it is well known he had a 
larm which he called "Leamington Farm." Having come trom 
England he was acquainted with the forms of mills then in use. 

The poet has very fittingly spoken of the attempt to Norseize 
this mill in the following words: 

'•Alas ! the antiquarian's dream is o'er, 

Thou art an old stone wind-mill, nothing more !" 

A skeleton discovered near Fall River, in 1831, has been im- 
pressed into the service of the Northmen. Had it been discov- 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 



43 



ered after the contents of Indian graves were fully known, it 
would have excited but little comment, and the knowledge of it 
would have been largely confined among archaeologists. But 
its having been unearthed about the time when Norse remains 
were particularly searched out, it became at once either the 
skeleton of Thorwald Ericson, or else one of his companions, 
notwithstanding the fart that no implements peculiarly Norse 
were found in conjunction with it. The Danish authorities were 
very much interested in it, and chemical tests were brought for- 
ward to substantiate the claims made tor it. 

As might well be anticipated, Prof. R. B. Anderson seizes 
upon this skeleton as an evidence of his theory. Two pages of 
his book are devoted to it, under the caption "Thorvald Erik- 
son." No doubt appears to rankle in his bosom. He intro- 
duces the subject by saying, "His (Thorwald's) death and burial 
also gains interest in another respect, for in the year 1831 there 
was found in the vicinity of Fall River, Massachusetts, a skeleton 
n armor, and many of the circumstances connected with it are 
so wonderful that it might indeed seem almost as though it 
were the skeleton of this very Thorwald Erikson!"* 

Much having been written and said about this discovery, it 
finally caught the eye of Longfellow, who attempted to immor- 
talize it in verse. From his notes, and the language employed, 
he seems to have no doubt that he is dealing with a veritable 
Viking. Undoubtedly the poet is an authority in the field he has 
chosen, but when he attempts "archseological rhythm," his words 
must be taken with allowance. He makes the skeleton sav: 



'I was a Viking old! 
My deeds, though manifold, 
No skald in song has told. 
No sao-a taught thee! 
Take need, that in thy verse 
Thou dost the tale rehearse, 
Else dread a dead man's curse; 
For this I sought thee." 



"Far in the Northern Land, 
By the wild Baltic's strand, 
I, with my childish hand, 
Tamed the gerfalkon; 
And, with my skates fast bound. 
Skimmed the half-frozen sound. 
That the poor, whimpering hound 
Trembled to walk on!" 



This skeleton was destroyed by fire in 1843. The skull was 
of ordinary size, the forehead low, beginning to retreat at not 
more than an inch from the nose; the head conical, and larger 
behind the ears than in front. The bones of the feet were 
missing, but the hands and arms were small, and the body was 
apparently that of a person below the middle size. With it was 
found a piece of copper plate, rather thicker than sheathing 
copper, which had been suspended from the neck. Probably 
this was not its original position, for there were no marks on 
the breast of the green carbonate with which parts of the cop- 
per were covered. In shape it was like a carpenter's saw, but 
wanting serrated edges; it was ten inches in length, six or seven 
inches wide at the top, and four at the bottom; the lower part 
was broken, indicating it had been still longer. The edges were 



♦America Not Discovered by Columbus, p. 75. 



44 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

smooth, and a hole was pierced in the top, by which it would 
appear to have been suspended to the body with a thong. 
Several arrow-heads of copper were also found, about an inch 
and a half long by an inch in breadth at the base, and having a 
hole in the center. They were fiat, quite sharp, the sides con- 
cave, the base square, and of the same thickness of the breast- 
plate. Piecesof a shaft were also found. What caused particular 
interest was a belt, composed of parallel copper tubes, about one 
hundred in number, four inches in length, and of the thickness 
of an ordinary drawing pencil. These tubes were thin and 
exterior to others of wood, through each of which passed a 
leather thong and tied at the ends to a long thong encircling the 
body. This belt or thong was fastened under the left arm by 
tying the ends of the long string together, and passed round the 
breast and back a little below the shoulder-blades. The copper 
was much decayed, and in some places was gone; the thongs 
and wooden tubes were preserved. Nothing else was found 
but a piece of coarse cloth or matting a few inches square, of 
the thickness of sail-cloth. The flesh was preserved wherever 
any of the copper touched it. 

Illustrative of this skeleton with its accompanying implements. 
Haven has cited a particular narration given in Brereton's Brief 
and True Relation of the Discovery of the North Part of Vir- 
ginia (New England), by Gosnold, in 1602. It is there stated 
that while they were at an island, which has since been identi- 
fied, and lying ofl the coast nearest to Fall River, the natives 
came to them from the mainland, and the articles they brought 
are thus described: "They have great stores of copper, some 
very red and some of a paler color; none of them but have 
chains, ear-nngs, or collars of this metal; they head some of the 
arrows herewith, much like our broad arrow-heads, very work- 
manly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces cemented 
together, each piece of the bigness of one of our reeds, a finger 
in length, ten or twelve of them togetiier on a string, which they 
wear about their necks; these collars they wear about their 
bodies like bandeliers, a handful broad, all hollow pieces like the 
others, but somewhat shorter, four hundred pieces in a collar, 
very fine and evenly set together. Besides these, they have 
large drinking cups, made like skulls, and other thin plates of 
copper made much like our boar-spear blades, all which they 
so little esteem, as they offered their fairest collars or chains for 
a knife or such like trifle."* 

The "Proceedings of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science," for 1856, contains an account of 
alleged runic letters appearing on a ledge of hornblende, on the 
island of Monhegan, off the coast of Maine. Dr. A. E. Hamlin, 
of Bangor, who presented the paper, suggested that the inscrip- 

*Arch8eology of the United States, p. 108. 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 45 

tion is the work of "some illiterate Scandinavian, whose knowl- 
edge of the runic form was very imperfect." A copy of the 
inscription was forwarded to Copenhagen, but the Danish anti- 
quaries gave no interpretation, but contented themselves by 
observing: "The Indians have, without doubt, profited in various 
ways by their intercourse with the Northmen, to whom they 
were probably indebted for much knowledge; and it is ap- 
parently to their instruction, acquired in this manner, that we 
owe several of their sculptures on the rocks which are met 
withm their regions." 

As Prof. Anderson does not vouch for the authenticity of this 
inscription, and as De Costa* thinks it may be classed with the 
"Runamo Rock," it is not necessary to pursue the investigation 
aoy further. The rejection of this evidence may be owing to 
the thoughtless suggestion of Dr. Hamlin that it was the work 
of "some iUiterate Scandinavian." The term applied was too 
offensive. Had he declared that it was the work of "some 
intelligent Scandinavian, and the characters are undoubted 
runes," then Mohegan Rock would have occupied a conspicuous 
place alongside the Dighton Rock, the Round Tower and the 
Skeleton in Armor. 

Human credulity might further be illustrated, in this matter, 
in the purported discovery of the site of the houses built by Lief 
Ericson. Up to date this may be recorded as the latest of the 
finds. So delighted were the advocates over this purported 
find thait they presented to the discoverer a picture in colors of 
Lief's house in process of building, on the banks of Charles 
River, at flood-tide; surmounting an inscription, followed by 
the names of fifty-four Scandinavian societies, supported on one 
side by a figure of Lief, and on the other by an Indian maiden, 
with the surroundings of the New World; the whole set in a 
frame of pear-wood, elaborately carved in illustration of the 
Sagas and Scandinavian mythology. To use the language of 
this new discoverer. Prof. Horsford, the ship of the Norse 
adventurers "grounded in ebb-tide, on soft bottom, against Fort 
Point, opposite Noddle's Island (East Boston), as one sees on 
the pilot chart of Boston Harbor," and from this point, at flood- 
tide the ship floated ofl' itself into "the ancient Boston Back 
Bay."*!" The houses he locates on the eastern slope of Mount 
Auburn. Accompanying the pamphlet is a map showing the 
exact course of Liel's ship. The discovery is based soleh' on 
the relation of the Vineland Sagas, which we have given 
in Chapter III, Our author boldly declares that he expected to 
find there sites, and had located them before he set out in the 
search for them. He found what he was looking for, and what 
he had determined on finding. Having found them, he looks 
into the past and goes.into rhapsody and exclaims: "What a 

*Pre-Columbian Discovery, p. 67. 

tHorsford's "Norse Discovery of America," p. 13. 



46 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

fortunate circumstance that there were so many of Norse blood 
and habits, residents, successively in the same houses."* Very 
fortunate indeed! It has been of incalculable benefit to the 
whole Norse and English speaking race! 

The author treats us to a picture of a tablet, preserved in the 
Museum of the Essex Institute at Salem, and declares his belief 
that it is to "be regarded as a pictorial record of the repairs of 
Thorwald's ship at the extemporized ship yard on Cape Cod, in 
the year 1004. It exhibits the lines ot skids and other con- 
veniences for hauling up the vessel, to make the bottom accessi- 
ble, and the old keel set upon the neck,"f This tablet is a 
piece of slate about four inches long, found in conjunction with 
a human skeleton, a brass shield, and what appeared to be a 
fragment of a sword — all taken from a grave on the north shore 
of Massachusetts Bay. There are no runes on the slate. The 
markings bear no resemblance to anything known. To say 
that it represents a ship being hauled up in-order to perfect its 
keel is an exceedingly extravagant stretch of the imagination, 
to say the least. 

Our author, in the last place, turns philologist and proves satis- 
factorily — to his own mind^ — that the word "America" is Norse. 
"The utterance of Norse forms of the name, as Eirikr, -^rekr, 
Eyrikur, suggests to a Vistntr, £^rtka, which needs only the prefix 
;//, one of the features of speech due to imperfect vocal develop- 
ment, remarked among American aboriginal races, and especially 
among the Indian tribes of the region of Norumbega (Vineland), 
to become Em-erika, or not remotely America, the name which 
the continent, as I conceive, has appropriately borne. ":{; 

This method of treating philology is enough to cause the bones 
of Sir William Jones to turn over in their grave. It appears to 
have been inspired by an article from the pen of Jules Marcou, 
published in the Smithsonian Report for 1888. This article 
attempts to prove that the word "America" is a name indigenous 
to the New World, and derived from a tribe of Indians called 
"Amerriques,"inhabitingthemountainsSierraAmerrique, which 
form the cordillera between Lake Nicaragua and the Mosquito 
coast, in the province of Che ntales, Nicaragua. 

Speaking of this article, Mr. Horsford says: "How the name 
America came to be adopted has been consummately treated by 
Professor Jules Marcon."§ That the name America "perpetuates 
the claims of Erik as discoverer when he landed on Greenland 
in 982. "II In other words, the name America is but another 
term for Erik the Red; that Erik the Red's name has been per- 
petuated in a tribe of American Indians. 

One cannot help but admire the ease with which all problems 
are solved! In order to sustain the Norse discovery of America, 
the Eskimo must be brought down from their high northern 

*Horsford's "Norse Discovery of America," p. 15. flbid, p. 17. llbid, p. 29. 
'ilbid, p, 27. \\lbid, p. 28. 



NORSE REMAINS IN AMERICA. 47 

latitude to Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and a tribe of Indians 
dwelling in the mountains of Nicaragua must be transplanted to 
the same point, that due notice and reverence might be given 
to Leif Ericson! It is a beautiful theory! It is a transcendant 
fact! With the facts so clearly set forth and so satisfactorily 
proved, "it is necessary for the truth, as to the (Norse) discov- 
ery of America, to be established immediately."* 

A candid view of the matter would lead an intelligent mind 
to the conclusion that the Norse advocates, in their great zeal, 
have trifled entirely too much with the subject, in placing stress 
on these so-called American evidences. However, they are 
acute enough to know that if the Norse had been in America, 
made settlements, and continued for a period of three hundred 
or more years, as has been claimed, corroborative proof 
would be forthcoming. Greenland affords it, and America 
must not be deficient. If it fails to yield evidence, then the 
whole^ theory must be changed. In lieu of better testimony, 
that which has been seized upon must continue to do service. 

♦Shipley's "Icelandic Discoverers," p. 14. 



48 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 



CHAPTER V. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 

Insuperable difficulties attend every step in the demands put 
forth by the Norse claimants. One asserts the Norse were the 
original discoverers and should immediately be recognized as 
such, while another admits there were prior discoveries of the 
continent. When the briefs ot the claimants are compared, one 
with the other, contradictions and gross assumptions are seen 
to predominate. One will declare the Sagas to be simple and 
unaffected, and the only reliable histories the earth has fallen 
heir to, while another seeks to edit and twist them into the re- 
quired shape — thus reminding one of the famous robber Pro- 
crustes. 

Admitting that the Sagas teach all that is claimed for them, 
what advantage was it to the human race? Is it not a fact that 
the discovery amounted to nothing? Is it not also a fact that 
when Queen Margaret prohibited trade with Greenland, it 
would have stimulated commerce between that colony and the 
one in America? To offset the worthlessness of the alleged 
Norse discovery, it is asserted that without it Columbus would 
have known nothing of the New World. Even if this be ad- 
mitted, then more is due to the Irish than to the Norse. De 
Costa declares that the Icelandic chronicles distinctly affirm that 
"half a century before the voyage of Erik, a great country was 
known at the west, being called Ireland the Great.' It would 
seem that this country was first reached by the Irish, whose 
prior discovery was concealed by the Icelanders. The Irish 
had described it, evidently, as a land of verdure, while the Saga 
says that Erik applied the name of 'Greenland' to the part he 
visited, not from any particular fitness, but from motives of 
policy, saying that 'men would be persuaded to go to a land 
with so good a name.' Possibly the term 'Greenland' was orig- 
inally applied to the whole of North America, as were often 
names that finally came to have a local meaning."* In the 
mutual admiration society the Irish should not be crowded out. 
Give them a chance. Let them help fight this battle as well as 
the battles of all countries except their own! 

Unfortunately the reference to Ireland the Great involves us 
in another difficulty. In the above quotation De Costa would 
have us believe it was Greenland, while Prof. Rafn held it was 

♦Pre-Columbian Discovery, p. 33, 



ODDS AND ENDS. 49 

America.* This disagreement between the two editors would 
throw great doubt on the Norse theory. It Prof. Rafn is cor- 
rect, then the Norse did not discover the continent, but took 
advantage of the achievement of the Irish. It we argue after 
the same methods, then the honor must be accorded to the Irish, 
while the Norse are shorn of all the glory there was in it. 

Those who have presumed to edit the sagas must also edit 
the letter of Columbus, so as to make it appear that he was 
acquainted with the voyages of Erik, Leif and Thorfinn Karl- 
sefne. Prof R. B. Anderson teaches that Columbus obtained 
from the writings of Adam of Bremen the Norse discovery of 
America, and this information induced him to go to Iceland, 
where the "Icelanders must have told him, as they state in their 
Sagas, that far to the south of Vinland was Irland-it-Mikla, or 
Great Ireland; 'that this Great Ireland extended certainly as far 
south as the present Florida, and hence his shortest and most 
pleasant route would be to sail about due west from Spain. "f 
DeCosta says that "Columbus knew of the westward voyages 
of the Icelanders is sufficiently evident. He clearly believed, as 
the Norsemen did, namely, that Greenland was an extension of 
Norway, and that Vinland lay contiguous, while what he de- 
sired was to reach the eastern coast of Asia.":{: Mrs. Shipley 
emphatically says: "The fact that the' rumors of these vast 
discoveries in the west reached every seaport in Southern 
Europe, as well as the Eternal City; the fact that Gudrid, the 
wife of Karlsefne, visited Rome after her three years' sojourn 
in Vinland ; the fact that she narrated these experiences at 
length to the holy fathers; the fact that Rome had appointed 
bishops to both Greenland and Vinland; the fact that Columbus, 
an Italian by birth, and naturally aware of these important 
events, went to Iceland in order to pursue the investigations, to 
which all this had given him the clue. After his visit to Iceland 
he made out to find America, as any one else could have found 
it, after obtaining definite directions. "§ 

The following is quoted from Beamish: "Having had access 
to the archives of the island, and ample opportunity of convers- 
ing with the learned there through the medium of the Latin 
language, he might easily have obtained a complete knowledge 
of the discoveries of the Northmen — sufficient, at least, to con- 
firm his belief in the existence of a western continent."|| 

Quotations to the same purport could be greatly extended, 
but these are sufficient. On what basis do these affirmations, 
declarations and assumptions rest? There is none other than 
the solitary letter of Columbus himself, which was preserved 
by his son. This vague letter the son cites in the biography of 
his father: "In the month of February, in the year 1477, 1 sailed 

*Pre Columbian Discovery, p. 160. 

tAmerlca Not Discovered by Columbus, pp. 13 15. 

5:Pre-Columbian Discovery, p. 56. 

^Icelandic Discoveries, p. 69. ||Ibid., 106. 



50 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

one hundred leagues beyond the island of Tile, the southern 
portion of which is seventy-three degrees removed from the 
equinoctial, and not sixty-three, as some will have it; nor is it 
situated within the line which includes Ptolemy's west, but is 
much further to the westward; and to this island, which is as 
large as England, the English come with their wares, especially 
those from Bristol. And at the time I went thither the sea was 
not Irozen, although the tides there are so great that in some 
places they rose twenty-six fathoms, and fell as much. It is, 
indeed, the fact that that Tile, of which Ptolemy makes men- 
tion, is situated where he describes it, and by the moderns this 
is called Frislanda." 

If Tile is Iceland, and Columbus sailed one hundred leagues 
beyond, he must have entered Greenland a distance of not less 
than fifty miles. But of this there is no mention! Friesland is 
one of the most northern provinces of the Netherlands. He 
went farther north, and it is more than probable to the northern 
part of Norway. Having sailed west three hundred miles he 
covered half the distance to Iceland. But upon supposition he 
went to Iceland, what proof is there he saw the Sagas ? The 
evidence of the sagas need not be rehearsed; for as has been 
seen the Codex Flatoyensis was discovered in private hands and 
did not belong to the State. There is not a scintilla of evidence 
that this Codex, in 1477, was known beyond the actual limits of 
its possessor, or even that it had a possessor at that time. Even 
if the manuscripts were in the archives of the country, it is not 
at all likely that the attention of a stranger, more especially one 
speaking a foreign language, would be called to these fireside 
tales and legends. 

As has been noticed, the assertion is made that Gudrid nar- 
rated her experiences to the holy fathers, and that rumors of 
these discoveries had reached every seaport in Southern 
Europe. The saga says she "went to the South." On this De 
Costa has an extended note. "It is understood she (Gudrid) 
went to Rome, It may be asked why she did not spread the 
news of her son's voyage in those parts of Europe whither she 
went, and make known the discovery of the New World. To 
this it may again be replied, that the Icelanders had no idea that 
they had found a New World, and did not appreciate the value 
of their geographical knowledge. Besides, there is nothing to 
prove that Gudrid and others who went to Europe at this 
period, did not make known the Icelandic discoveries. At that 
time no interest was taken in such subjects, and therefore we 
have little right to expect to find traces of discussion in relation 
to what, among a very small class, would be regarded, at the 
best, as a curious story."* 

Columbus fitted himself thoroughly for the great undertak- 

Pre-Columbian Discovery, p. 156. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 51 

ing he was destined to perform. From his studies he arrived 
at the conclusion that the world was a sphere, but underesti- 
mated its size, while over-estimating the extent of Asia. He 
believed there was a western route to India, and determined to 
discover it. He first applied to the Senate of Genoa, his native 
city. His proposals were rejected. He next turned to John II 
of Portugal, but that monarch, through the advice of the Bishop 
of Ceuta, dealt treacherously wiih him. Upon discovering the 
dishonorable transaction, he secretly left Lisbon, and dispatched 
his brother, Bartholomew, to England with letters for Henry 
VII, to whom he had communicated his idea. He next proposed 
his plans to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who deemed them 
impractical and visionary. He then presented his plans to the 
Duke ot Medina Cell, who gave him great encouragement, en- 
tertained him for two years, and even determined to furnish him 
with three or tour caravals; but was finally deterred through 
the belief that such an expedition should be under the patronage 
of a sovereign. He wrote to Isabella, and at her bidding Co- 
lumbus repaired to the court at Cordova. Here he was kindl}?^ 
received, but neither Isabella nor Ferdinand had time to listen 
to him, owing to the struggle then going on with the Moors. 
He followed the court to Salamanca, and after surmounting 
many difficulties obtained an audience with the king. The mat- 
ter was referred to Fernando de Talavera, who, in 1487, sum- 
moned a junta mostly composed of ecclesiastics, prejudiced and 
loth to abandon their pretensions to knowledge, which decided 
that his project was vain and inipractical and that the sover- 
eigns should abandon it. After encountering many other dis- 
couragements, an agreement was entered into with the Spanish 
sovereigns, which was signed on April 17, 1492. 

In presenting his plans and arguments before the different 
courts and those high in authority, not once did he allude to the 
discovery of Leif Ericson. When before the junta, Columbus 
presented his arguments, and the ecclesiastics overwhelmed 
him with biblical texts, there was a great opportunit}^ to present 
the conclusive evidence of Liet's discovery, and the fact that 
the pope of Rome had appointed a bishop for Vinland. Most 
certainly would Columbus have thus availed himself, had he 
possessed the knowledge. Again, the fact of his route across 
the Atlantic cannot be reconciled with a previous knowledge of 
the one from Greenland to Vinland. His route would have 
borne greatly to the northwest. 

Much irrelative matter has been dragged into the discussion 
by the Norse advocates. It should here be touched upon in 
order to show the true animus of these erratic theorists. It wnll 
be an illustration of their ability to weigh evidence in other 
matters as well as in that which they have particularly chosen. 

The Norse character has been pompously set forth and its 
pagan ethics extolled. Great benefits would result in "accord- 



52 PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

ing to Iceland its full due, of emulating its freedom and enlight- 
ment during the da3's when it was a flourishing republic, and 
before it became christianized."* Norse ethics "have been the 
source of infinite good."f The literature of Iceland presents 
"in many respects an ideal civilization." :|: The i5candinavian 
North has "individually and collectively sustained the most 
brilliant role that has ever been acted in Europe, or in the 
world. •;<■*** The assumption of Christian humility and 
weakness so completely destioyed their ancient pride that they 
were not capable of reasserting themselves and gaining their 
former rank." § These exalted ideas are supposed to be culled 
from the sagas. If the sagas were actually silent as to the 
moral character of the people in pagan times, the red-handed 
Erik and the treacherous Freydis, who not only caused the 
death of so many innocent men, but with her own hand butch- 
ered five women, solely for the sake of gain, should put to shame 
such declarations. The sagas are not silent on the moral char- 
acteristics of the people, and whosoever reads the accounts 
therein contained must wonder if they had within tf em the di- 
vine image. The feuds of the Icelanders were notorious. The 
degree of a man's civilization may be measured according to 
his ideas of woman. Saxo Grammaticus, the ablest of all the 
sagamen, says : "Thus you will see the worth of a woman's 
word. They are chaft^ before the wind, and change like the 
billows of the sea. Who can rely on a woman's heart that al- 
ters like a flower sheddmg its leaves, or as the seasons change, 
obliterating each other's traces ?" In matters of marriage there 
was little love-making. The wishes of the women were seldom 
consulted, and they were disposed of to the best of advantage 
by their fathers or guardians. Even the very word (brud-kaup) 
means "wife-deal," in the sense of a sale. On the marriage 
day it was bad taste not to be drunk and find a bed on the 
rushes on the floor. Solid drinking continued from Wednesday 
until Saturday. Polygamy was also practiced. Divorce was 
frequent. In the Laxdaeler's saga — one of the complex sagas 
of West Iceland — examples are given showing on what slight 
grounds divorce could be obtained. Gudrun, in 989, at the age 
of fifteen, was married to the Thorwald of Garpsdolen. Be- 
cause she was not consulted in regard to certain personal orna- 
ments she formed an acquaintance with Thord Ingunsson, and 
through his advice she made her husband a shirt with a large 
opening in the neck Now it was the law if a woman dressed 
as a man, or vice versa, it was a reasonable ground for a di- 
vorce. Thorwald wore the shirt, which was so low as to ex- 
pose the nipples of his breast. A divorce was declared. This 
same Thorwald Ingunsson had a wife nicknamea Brok Aude, 
because she wore breeches like a man. So Thorwald declared 
himself divorced, and shortly after married Gudrun. 

*Icelan(iic Discoverers, p. 183. flbid., p. 192. ilbid., p. 105. glbicl., p. 195 



ODDS AND ENDS. 5U 

The Vikings were lawless in a bad sense, and their expedi- 
tions by land and sea in quest of plunder were characterized by 
a bloodthirsty savagery of a vicious type. The women who 
accompanied these expeditions distinguished themselves by a 
fierce cruelty. They adopted a mode of life and a diet which 
suited few men, or even beasts of prey. The older the records 
the darker the picture. They ate nothing but raw cured meat 
and slept out of doors. The most atrocious cruelties were 
practiced by them, and they spared neither man, woman nor 
child. After awhile they applied a certain code of laws in which 
it was agreed that they should not plunder their own coasts or 
merchant-ships belongmg to their countrymen, unless it was in 
a case of a family feud. They would start out in their piratical 
expeditions when the cuckoo was first heard and return as late 
as the autumnal storms. The Hebrides were a favorite cruis- 
ing-ground. Their merciless ravages along the coasts of Scot- 
land have been given by Skene* and need not be here repeated. 
Their irruption into Ireland has been frequently retold. In 794, 
when paganism must have been in its purity, they utterly laid 
waste the Western Isles of Scotland and plundered the church 
of lona* They were not finally expelled until the crushing de- 
feat they suffered at the hands of the Scots, under Alexander 
III, at the battle of Largs, fought in 1263, when king Haco's 
broken army and fleet were forced to retire. 

Recuring again to the sagas, we find the Volsungasaga^ — 
probably written in Iceland about the close of the thirteentfi 
century — among many other things gives an extended account 
of king Atle and Gudrun, his wife, which is a story abounding 
in atrocities. Among other things the record tells that Gudrun 
cuts the throats of her own sons, then takes their skulls and fills 
ihem with wine mixed with their blood, and gives the same to 
Atle to drink. She also takes their hearts and covered the 
same with honey and gave it to her husband to eat. Not con- 
tent with this atrocity she set fire to the hall and destroyed King 
Atle and his men. The records of history nowhere recite a 
crime so fearful as that practiced by the wife of King Atle. The 
sagas abound in stories of implacable hate, and thirst for re- 
venge. A thirst for blood was an attribute of the people. A 
man was murdered in cold blood for a slight provocation. It 
was proper and fit to waylay or stab a foe in his bed, or burn 
him to death in his house. In the saga of Halfred it was re- 
lated that Sokke, a Viking, burnt the house of Thorwald, a man 
living in Norway. The latter demanded to know why he was 
injured. Sokke replied that his intention was to burn him and 
his alive, and to annex his goods after Viking rules. According 
to the saga, this appears to have been a sufficient answer. 

One of the principal amusements of this people was horse- 

*Celtlc, Scotland, Vol I, pp. 302, 311, 327, 339, 347; also Chronicles of the Picts and 
Scots, pp. 8, 9, 3;W, 361, 363. *lbld.. Vol. I, p. 304. 



M PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. 

fighting. Horses were reared purposely for fighting, and foals 
having long teeth were specially selected. The places selected 
for such exhibitions were fiat meadows, with some rising ground 
near, on which spectators, and in particular the women, could 
sit and see what passed. When the horses rose on their hind 
legs and began to bite, each trainer was allowed to use a staft 
to encourage his horse. Often bloody affrays grew out of these 
sports. In the Njal saga it is related that Starkad, who owned 
a good fighting-horse, had three quarrelsome sons. These 
sons challenged Gunnar to a horse fight in order to involve him 
in a bloody teud, which they accompHshed. The Gretti and 
the Vigaglum sagas give accounts of blood feuds growing out 
of horse fighting. 

It is neither necessary nor pleasant to carry these citations 
any farther. Their natures were more savage than that of any 
North American Indian at the time of the discovery. Into this 
mass ot savagery Christianity was introduced by two really 
pagan kings, who thought they had become Christians. They 
propagated it with a vengeance. Olav Tryggveson and Olav 
Haraldson, when kings of Norway, suppressed heathenism 
with a strong hand. They sought to convince the stiff-necked 
heathens by either cutting off their heads or gouging out their 
eyes, and both kings sowed priests broadcast over their domin- 
ions. Christianity had a long and patient struggle with these 
people. Their wild and barbarous natures were subdued. Their 
better natures have been called mto activity. The Norwegians 
and Icelanders of to-day fare far better than their ancestors did 
in saga or pre-saga times. They pursue the paths of peace, 
cultivate knowledge and build up their homes with the reason- 
able assurance they will remain protected. Instead of gaining 
renown as a pirate, the Norseman becomes of great advantage 
in the progress of science and art. 

The next and last point to be considered in these papers is 
the extravagant claim of our debt of gratitude to the Northmen. 
We have already quoted, in Chapter I, from DeCosta. It is 
here repeated: "In vindicating the Northmen we honor those 
who not only gave us the first knowledge possessed ot the 
American continent, but to whom we are indebted for much 
beside that we esteem valuable. In reality, we fable in a great 
measure when we speak of our 'Saxon inheritance.' It is rather 
from the Northmen that we have derived our vital energy, our 
freedom of thought, and, in a measure we do not yet suspect, 
our strength of speech."* This was probably inspired by 
Samuel Lang, the translator of the Heimskringla. What he 
says is given at length by Prof. R. B. Anderson. f "All that 
men hope for of good government and future improvement in 
their physical and moral condition — all that civilized men enjoy 

*Pre Columbian Discovery, p. 7, taken from "Heimskringla," Vol. I , p. 7. 
tAmeriea Not Discovered by Columbus, pp. 98-100. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 55 

at this day of civil, religious and political liberty — the British 
constitution, representative legislature, the trial by jur}-, security 
of property, freedom ot naind and person, the influence of pub- 
lic opinion over the conduct of public affairs, tiie Reformation, 
the liberty of the press, the spirit of the age — all that is or has 
been of value to man in modern times as a member of society, 
either in Europe or in America, may be traced to the spark 
left burning upon our shores by the Norwegian barbarians."* 
This is a most astonishing declaration to be made by a sane 
man. No one would make it who was acquainted with history, 
unless he had an utter disregard for the truth. Any man com- 
petent to trace "all that civilized men enjoy at this day of civil, 
religious and political liberty" to a "spark left burning" by a 
band of oirates, deserves to be classed as a greater discoverer 
than Christopher Columbus. The world, its teachings, the 
improvements and the civilization, prior to that time, outside of 
Scandinavia, is a blank so far as our present welfare is con- 
cerned ! The struggle ot the ages resulted in nothing. Man- 
kind owes no debt of gratitude save to the spark left burning by 
a band of northern sea-rovers. It must have inspired Martin 
Luther, for the reformation was due to it. What is the proof of 
this extravagant claim ? Exactly the same as the great bulk of 
declarations put forth in behalf of this Norse theory. Simply 
Nothing. There is not a single subject discussed during the 
last twenty-live years that so abounds in unwarranted assertions, 
unsupported declarations, and the making of mountains out of 
mole-hills, as this Norse business. But the zeal thrown into the 
subject seems to have made them blind to the facts and the 
teachings of history. If the same methods were resorted to in 
order to show the contrary on this subject, invective would be 
called forth and harsh epithets applied. The charge of being 
unscrupulous would be hurled without any qualification. It is 
not to be implied that the intent is here to cast opprobrious 
words upon the advocates; for it is fully recognized that their 
zeal has outstripped their judgement. 

*No wonder the mandate has gone forth that "Americans are to put on theNorte 
armor and seal the glorious work for universal liberty that their ancestors have be- 
queathed to them ! " Ice'andic Discoverers, p. 57. 



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